kale's Once and For All: The Takari Saga
by Eowyn the Fair
Summary: Book 7, the conclusion of kale's saga. Takeru learns of a plot against Hikari's soul from the forces of Hell, and alone journeys towards his decisive battle. But Kari follows, playing into the hands of the other side to pit the two against one another...
1. The Paragon's Creed

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Note: Again, yes, I do have kale's permission to post his stories here. That permission is documented in his author's profile. This is the final book, concluding the entire saga. And yes, it really does have an ending this time.

A reading of Books 1, 3, 5 and 6 at least, is recommended to follow the storyline.

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Once and For All -- The Takari Saga -- The Final Book

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Names of the _a'ladon_, pronunciations and definitions:

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Eloan -- (eh-LO-in) _formal speech _-- Hope, as one that aspires to reward for a virtuous life

Ailora -- (i-LOR-ah) _formal speech _-- Light, Sunlight

Shay -- (shA) _Northern Dialect _-- Squire (applied to the gentry, a noble's son)

T'Kai -- (t-KI) _formal speech, affectionate _-- (little) oath keeper

Delia -- (del-E-ah) _common speech _-- A genus of flower that blooms only in the fall

Kiara -- (kee-AR-ah) _formal speech _-- Choir

Cian -- (KI-an) _formal speech _-- A fencing saber

Jeron -- (je-RON) _common speech _-- Single, alone

Aine -- (awn-ye) _Northern Dialect _-- (dagger shaped like a) crescent moon

Moya -- (moi-ah) _Northern Dialect, obsolete _-- sunset

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_The Time has come!_

This single brief, yet thunderous announcement of apocalyptic significance rang out over the entire surface of the Earth. Throughout hundreds of countries and past thousands of miles, the call (to arms, as it were) spread in mere seconds. And though the sound was like a deafening explosion in the ears of those who took notice of it, not one single human on the entire planet heard so much as a whisper.

All over the world, things of darkness that were better left unnamed finally began to move. After decades upon decades and more of waiting, the summons that they had been awaiting had finally come. And at the call these creatures smiled to one another; dark, unpleasant smiles that would chill the blood of any who might chance to look upon them. Smiles, because they knew how truly fortunate that they were. For they had heard stories of their brethren in other worlds, in other times, who had been forced to wait millennia for that call.

Frail disguises and harmless facades melted away from the creatures, to be replaced by horrific images that most people would have said existed only in fairy tales or in bad dreams. Ghastly weapons of a dark power unknown to man were unsheathed at the call, and a thousand pairs of large, ungainly ears perked up to hear what was next.

For it was _their _Time that had come, and the fall of the _Exemplar _was at hand.

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T.K. Takaishi walked slowly towards his locker at the end of a long and arduous school day. Very slowly, and with a purpose that was really all that kept him on his feet. He glanced once to his right, then to his left to make certain that no one else was in the general vicinity before stopping to rest against the wall and holding his hand against his chest. It hurt, and hurt badly, but he knew from experience that it would all pass... in time.Soon the flush of fever would drain from his face and the strength would return to his legs. It would pass if he would wait... if he could only wait.

And then pass it did, slowly but mercifully. The boy exhaled a long, easy breath of relief as he knelt to retrieve his discarded schoolbag, then resumed his steady pace down the hallway.

It had been two years now, almost to the day, since this had all started. Since he had ridden into battle astride Pegasusmon, fought, and been inflicted with that most grievous of injuries. Two years since he had been exalted as a celestial Paragon, and had thrown down Roan and one of the Powers from Hell. And two years since he had left all of that glory behind to return to Kari here on the mortal earth... a decision that had not been without its consequences.

After another few moments the boy reached his locker, leaning his forehead against the cool metal and working through the combination with his fingers. His body had been wounded terribly in that last battle, and when he had surrendered the holy vigor to remain on the earth those wounds had manifested themselves as the recurrent fever which he still suffered today. But thankfully the symptoms were rare, and never lasted very long.

A small envelope, white and vaguely pinkish in color fluttered down to the boy's feet as the door to his locker opened with a metallic _click_. The boy allowed himself a small smile, dropping his bag inside and easing the door shut before bending over to pick up the note. Opening the envelope, he was momentarily surprised to find nothing inside of it... but then the surprise vanished as the boy peered closely inside and was surrounded by the delightful scent of Kari's perfume. Of course she had been forced to hurry straight home after school, but still she had not forgotten about him.

T.K. turned and placed his back against the metal of the lockers, then slid down to a sitting position against them as he brought the envelope up to his nose and inhaled deeply. Closing his blue eyes against outside distractions, the boy sighed with ease. How incredibly lucky he was to have her...

_Sickening_, some of the other girls at school had fumed, noses upturned in jealousy when first they had noticed just how much the handsome young boy doted on Kari. _Lucky_, most of the other boys had likewise said. _Outrageous_, the teachers and other adults had stormed, frowning at the shameless (yet somehow charmingly innocent) affection that the two openly displayed for one another. _Scandalous! They're just children!_

There were others, of course, who knew better, but perhaps wisely chose not to say anything. Yolei and Davis, for two, who more wisely were able to restrain themselves and keep their hands off of one another at least until the school day was finished. Ken too, though he had seemed distant and quite uninterested in all things romantic for some time. And T.K.'s mother Nancy, who in addition to her freelance writing had become an occasional substitute teacher there.

These others were all well aware that, though children the pair may still have been, there were perhaps none living today who loved so deeply.

The boy placed the envelope to his nose one last time and inhaled deeply, then folded the object and placed it in his rear pocket. Being Friday, he had a better reason than ever to get home as quickly as possibly. Friday was the night when he went to the Kamiya's for dinner.

T.K. eased to his feet, then took a few long, purposeful strides down the hallway. He always felt better with her thoughtfulness to remind him what he'd come back for. But then, suddenly, his smile began to vanish as his steps shortened. In another moment, both smile and steps had stopped altogether as the boy pulled up short. He gave a brief, troubled glance over his left shoulder, back to the long corridor beyond his locker. For a moment, he had been certain...

He shook his head quickly to clear it. What was it about the last couple of days that had made him so exceedingly jumpy? For a few minutes, perhaps even just seconds, every day for the last week he had felt as if there were a thousand little pairs of eyes on his back and a thousand little fingers tickling at him where he could not scratch. But these periods of skittishness were always so brief and he so concentrated on other factors that they had (at first) been easy to ignore.

T.K. took another step forward, less quickly than before. Now that he thought honestly on it, the dream had been increasing in frequency as well. That one horrid nightmare that had lingered at his side for the few weeks following Iwaki, the one he could never put entirely out of his mind no matter how much he tried, had returned. It had seemed to be lurking at his bedside for each of the past few nights, waiting for him to close his eyes so that it could strike against him and be the other side's only lasting retribution for what he had done two years ago in that great battle.

He frowned. He had never told Kari what he had seen that final day, nor had he told any of the others. After all, what would be the point? Despite his certainty at the time that the demon that he'd faced on that last day posed a real threat to the girl, he had been convinced that the danger had passed with Roan and the Crystalline Dragon of Hatred. Oh, for the few weeks, perhaps months after that day he had stayed even closer to Kari than usual, watching for anyone or anything that might even suggest that the Beast inhabiting the last Fiend would try to make good on his threat. And when those months, and more, and even more had passed without any indication that something might happen, he finally was able to shuffle it off to the back of his mind.

Until this very week, of course. During the last week, _something _had changed. _Was _it just a nightmare? Or was it something more sinister? A threat, perhaps, or even a warning, depending on what it was that was forcing him to remember. With his prayers about it having gone unanswered, he had naturally assumed that there was no real threat to the girl. Surely if there had been something wrong there would have been _some _divine response... right?

T.K. was beginning to feel exceedingly uncomfortable at the thought. He would have preferred to pass it off as just some vague paranoia, but as he thought on it now he realized that it would be both dangerous and irresponsible for him to continue to do so. That was a luxury that other people could afford... he could not. For he knew, without question, that the End Times had not yet come and therefore that demonkind was still abroad in the mortal world. He also knew that the darkness had a particular grudge against him, even beyond that which they had against all other humans. And finally, he was aware that most of those powers would be hesitant to strike against him directly. He, perhaps alone, was proof against their most vile abilities.

But Kari also had a gift, if one more vague and less tapped than his own. And Powers of darkness had, in the past, often sought the girl to take her power and enhance their own. Was that not what the Master, the one who had made the threat in the first place, had hinted at? To take Kari and make her his 'bride'? And while the boy didn't know exactly what that foretold, the very notion of it threatened to make him almost physically ill.

T.K. suddenly closed his eyes, needing reassurance against the fear. He reached beneath his shirt for the dormant Crest of Hope and held it tightly against his heart. "Father..." he murmured, quietly and under his breath. "Please, don't let that happen. Tell me to fight for her, or to flee with her. I will live or die or fall to my knees to save her from anything like that."

"Will you now?"

The boy's nerves, already taut to the breaking point, very nearly snapped at the unexpected sound of another voice. At his side, his fists were clenched in readiness; untapped adrenalin sped freely through his veins. "Who said that?" he demanded, the tenor of his voice echoing throughout the clearly empty hallway.

For a long time there was no answer. A still, almost dead silence surrounded him, engulfing him in its smothering embrace. He was alarmed, of course, but not frightened. The powers of Darkness, if planning on a confrontation, would not have announced themselves when an ambush would have sufficed. In addition, the Crest of Hope was still resting quietly... it would have been up and to attention instantly if the boy had been in any imminent danger. T.K. scowled. "Show yourself!" he demanded, his eyes slowly scanning every inch that the hallway spanned.

There was a slow chuckle in response. "Will you swear to fall to your knees to save the girl Hikari from what had been fated to happen?"

Now that question was a trap if ever he had heard one. And as he had stood on his feet in the presence of both angels and demons, he knew well their mannerisms and thus had little question about which the grating, incorporeal voice in his ears belonged to. "I doubt that Kari's soul is yours to negotiate for," the boy called out in a challenge.

At the instant of his reply... it was almost as if all of the liveliness slowly but steadily began draining out of T.K.'s world. Like a recorder whose batteries have lost their life or the last few, flickering gasps of a dying lamp, the area surrounding the vigilant boy seemed to bleed to death in front of his eyes. The bright colors of the school gradually oozed away; the noises in his ears slowed and quieted until they were nothing more than a whisper. And then in the midst of the awful, gray lifelessness that was left after the hemorrhaging was finally completed, a single dark figure gated into the boy's world.

This demon came into existence as a tall, willowy, bipedal presence. Disturbingly, T.K. found as he looked at it from every angle that it had neither hair, nor eyes, nor even places where these features ought to have been. The creature's smooth, ebony skin was uniform... featureless... all the way around both its face and its body.

The two stood silently in the gray stillness for a few moments afterwards, perhaps sizing one another up. The Crest of Hope murmured a sleepy acknowledgement of its awareness in T.K.'s ear, but didn't seem in the least alarmed or worried about the demon's presence. Though it might have endangered any other mortal on the planet, it was not a Power. There was no threat to T.K. here.

T.K.'s scowl deepened, having long hoped that the creatures would never trouble him again. "What do you want now?"

From the other came a sound not unlike the hiss of steam when it is born of water poured upon a red-hot pan... it might have been a sigh. Then, a long moment afterwards, it spoke again. "Why must the _Exemplar_ always be so... confrontational?" it hissed, its discordant voice grating on the boy's ears like fingernails upon a chalkboard. "My coming here was facilitated solely by your wish... that to save the girl Hikari from her fate."

T.K.'s brow furrowed into a frown, his nerves on edge and his fingers itching for the Crest of Hope to send it scurrying back to the shadows. "You dare eavesdrop on my prayers?"

The other gave another loud, incoherent hiss in response. "Ahh... eavesdrop? Eavesdrop... eavesdrop..." The boy got the distinct impression that the creature was preoccupied with the word. " ...If only it were so necessary. Do even you, who are an _Exemplar_, not know that the prayers of the righteous are like the agonizing thundering of drums in our ears, threatening to beat from our heads what little sanity our Master allows us? And that particular one, if in vain, has been fervently spoken enough times in the past years to cause us all great grief."

_... in vain. _It was the only part of what the other had said that the boy had really heard. His eyes were dark upon the creature. "If that's meant to be a threat--"

He was interrupted by yet another hiss. "A _threat_?" the beast echoed vehemently. Then, a bit less forcefully, "A threat... threat... threat..." After another momentary pause to consider this choice of words, the creature continued. "What, _Exemplar_? Will even you not believe what your own soul speaks to you if it is not to your liking? That the girl's flesh and afterwards even her immortal spirit will soon become the fodder upon which my Brother will gorge himself?"

The boy's eyes, dark at the creature's words, now flashed forth as if endowed with blue lightning. "Stop it," he warned, his voice low and somewhat unsteady.

"That he will ravish her countless times, to the delight of her body and the eternal despair of her soul before he feasts?"

"Stop it!" T.K. repeated, his quavering voice going up several octaves.

"That he will suck from her everything that makes you humans better than us? That he will make her one of us... for all eternity?"

"Stop!" the boy raged, tears beginning to pool in his eyes as he leapt forward and struck the ebony flesh of the demon's cheek. An low, deafening sound like the clap of thunder filled the room as the Crest of Hope finally awakened, startled, and filled the length of T.K.'s arm with its holy might. The resulting blow upon its face hurled the creature's corrupt body across the room to land in a crumpled heap at the foot of a nearby door.

And then the golden, holy fire of the Crest of Hope began its triumphant dance about the fingertips of the boy; unleashed once again after having been dormant for so long. His soul had been forced to suffer in silence as the nightmares had come upon him in the dark. Now, at last, he could act against them.

The dark creature gave a single, silent gasp, rolling to its knees in a quivering distress. _Oh... Master..._

He had been prepared for greatness, of course, as he knew this human child to be _Exemplar... _what the angels knew as a Paragon. But this... this was more than he had imagined even in his wildest hopes and greatest fears. This one, riled enough, could actually reach forth and touch the plane of shadows with his power. It both astonished and frightened the creature, while at the same time giving him hope that this _could _actually work. But he had to step cautiously, lest he fall victim to that power before--

"Why-- ?" the creature begged, making his way to a single knee before allowing a pitiful whimper to escape his lips. "Why unleash your anger upon me, _Exemplar_? It is not _I_ who have such plans for the girl. I have said nothing to you that your own soul has not warned you of countless times since you have scourged my Brother, have I? Yet you attack me! Why? Why would you blame a herald who comes before you in peace?"

This was a risk, and a life-imperiling risk at that, but one that had to be taken. This boy was, if a uniquely powerful _Exemplar_, also a young one... as evidenced by the fact that he had already been ensnared by mortal love. And that was the key. The love. Despite having the great wisdom of the _Exemplar _(in spite of what the humans believed, age and wisdom did not necessarily go hand in hand) the demon had to trust that the boy could be tricked, if things were done the right way. Corrupting mortal souls was a specialty of his, but this time was different. Never before had the stakes been so high... and never the price for failure so deadly.

T.K. seemed to go over the creature's mournful accusation in his mind a few times as the demon watched. Then the creature gave a mental nod of satisfaction as the boy's hand dropped to his side, the golden fire slowly dissipating from his fingers. A weakness. A weakness that opened a crack in the boy's holy facade wide enough for the creature to peer into. Trust for his Master. The child, while he was perfectly content to trust the Creator with everything that he was, even in the face of certain death, still wavered when it came to trusting Him with the girl's fate.

The human boy looked almost abashed at his outburst of rage towards the demon. "Leave me," he said, turning his back on it. "This is not the time to fight, nor will you tempt me into giving you whatever it is that you want to leave Kari alone. When the day arrives that you, or another, comes for her, I will be with her then and _that _will be the time to fight."

The creature had (thankfully for it) no smile to give itself away. "But you cannot be with her _always_, can you child?" The demon gave a short pause to allow this truth to seep into the boy's thinking. Then, "For of course even now you are not with her. I have already said that I have no interest in the girl. What harm could there be then in simply listening to my words?"

Anxiousness for Kari began to slowly impede upon T.K.'s judgment. The visions of what the other creature had promised for her were already much too vivid in his head, and that, coupled with this creature's obvious point that even he could not always be with her, was beginning to make his palms start to sweat and his mouth begin to dry. _Was _there any real harm in listening...?

"You don't care about Kari. Or about me," the boy managed to struggle out in response.

"Of course not," the other replied, the repressed sneer in his voice emphasizing his distaste at the idea. "But the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or so your people say."

T.K.'s back was still to the beast. "Stop talking at me with human adages. Say whatever it is that you have to say and then leave, because while you've made me eager enough to get to Kari's side, I won't leave you around to haunt this place. Speak now and return to the shadows as quickly, before I cast you out."

Now the demon became a bit less sure of himself. He had hoped, and been almost certain that the boy had not recognized him as a Lesser demon, and thus subject to being turned away by the simple words of the righteous. Greater demons, Powers, were made of sterner stuff, while he--

"It is only this," the creature hissed. "That both you and I know that, while your Enemy, my Brother, lives, that he is a constant threat to that which we both hold most dear. For you it is the girl Hikari. For me, it is my very existence. Long has he seen me as a threat to his place at the right hand of _our _Master. And his fears are not misplaced, for if it were not for his strength I would long ago have seen him dead and myself installed in his position. Until now he had not seen fit to take action against me, because he knows that there are many even among his own followers who would choose my side if he should challenge me directly. But now he need wait no longer. For finally he has been unleashed to claim his bride and to take her power to make himself nigh on invincible."

The demon was focused now, and railed against T.K.. "He will wed her, _Exemplar_... against her will of course. But then he will have validation enough as he impregnates her with his essence. From her mortal womb will his new body be born, and it will suckle at her mortal spirit until there is nothing left. And that, boy... that is how he will be magnified as the Second Power of Darkness. Abilities beyond those common to my kind, and one that even the angels themselves might shy from. You believe this girl will suffer? Your _race _will suffer, human! Will the sacrifice of the last living _Exemplar_, the conditions that our Master has set down for him to wed have been fulfilled, and now he will act."

"But our Master could never have foreseen what happened to _you_. Perhaps even He never imagined that, after all this time, another of you would have willingly be born again. That one of you would freely delay his sojourn in the halls of paradise and place himself back in this filth of a world that you mortals were given to reside in. The last of your brethren fell one of your weeks ago, and Merodach is not one to delay."

_A week_... "The dreams," T.K. said simply.

The other gave a single nod of its ebony, featureless head at the other's tone. "Then you _have _felt his encroach upon your world. It is then perhaps worse than I had thought, his plans further along."

T.K. was now sweating profusely, and he consciously moved to fight down the fever that threatened him again. It was bad enough to have his fears about Kari confirmed. It was worse to realize that he should have been aware of the threat all along, and to know that the time for her to be taken was this close at hand. And in less than the time that it took for one bead of sweat to fall and another to begin, his decision was made. "What do you want me to do?"

_Don't sigh in relief, _the creature chastised himself. _Not yet, and not where he can hear..._

"I would think that must be obvious," the demon said. "I cannot fight my Brother, else I would have taken his place and saved my own life long ago. But you, holy _Exemplar_, can. I do not know if even you are strong enough to topple him, but I do know that you are the only creature alive today who can, and would care to, try."

T.K. looked grim, remembering what had happened the last time that he had tried his strength against the Beast of which they spoke. He had not lasted a minute in that fight...

But the boy had no time to be indecisive. He had to act, and act soon, he was certain. His prayers had gone unanswered, and there was no longer any doubt in his mind that Kari's safety was at stake. What this demon proposed in way of alliance seemed innocent enough (if such a term could truly be applied to one of that race), but first he had to be certain that this was not simply a ploy crafted by it to place the girl in a greater danger.

Upon T.K.'s chest was the silver chain which held the smooth talisman emblazoned with the sigil of Hope, and the boy was solemn as he unlocked the clasp behind his neck. The metal Crest gave a brief _clink _as it met with the silvery ring that dangled from the same chain, then slid willingly into the boy's hand. Stepping forward, he thrust it at the dark figure in front of him. "You know what this is?" he asked the other.

The demon recoiled and answered with a single, hesitant nod, his blood running even more cold than usual.

"Take it," the boy ordered.

Now the other's trembling became discernable, the faint odor of rotting eggs rising in response to his fear. For a moment it seemed as if he would comply, slowly reaching his clawed hand forward before seeming to change his mind and snatching it violently back. "I... I cannot."

"Take it! Or I leave you to your fate and will find a way to guard Kari on my own." And then T.K. displayed to the creature the object in his other hand; the burnished and flawless ring. "You know what this means to humans, don't you, demon? I _have _a choice. I _can _be with Kari always if I give this to her. It will destroy a hundred other relationships that we both have if I ask her to wed when we are but fifteen, and will certainly cause a thousand problems beyond even that. But if it comes down to trusting you or causing us both all those troubles to save her, I'll choose the troubles."

"She will say yes. Even on those days when I am most uncertain of myself and my worthiness of her, even then I know that. And as her husband, I _can _be with her always to keep the likes of you away." The boy's voice was rising steadily now, his fear for Kari and his anger at the entire situation raising his ire when little else could. "But if you take the Crest, and swear that you'll deal honestly with me, then I'll foreswear all of those troubles and wait for the proper time to propose to her." He paused, taking several deep breaths to calm himself. It was no bluff. He had, over the past two years, thought the situation over and concluded that now was not the time. But if that was what it took...

The boy took one final, deep breath, composing himself. He blinked his blue eyes open, eyes now filled to the brim with tears at the seeming unfairness of the situation. He sighed. "I promise that it will not hurt you unless you try to lie to me."

The demon, though it had occasionally felt fear in its lifetime, had never known such terror as it did now. For a moment, it seriously considered giving up this entire enterprise and searching for another way to fulfill his goals. The boy might well have handed a fellow human a live stick of dynamite and asked them to swear on that.

The creature looked at the glowing Crest of Hope in the boy's hand. And while it looked innocuous enough at the moment, there was no question in the demon's mind that the object would willingly reduce his physical body to ash if given the chance. If the boy would at least tolerate his existence enough to listen to what he had planned, Michael's great Sword of Ages almost certainly would not.

_How much control does he have over it? _the Beast wondered. _Can he truly do as he claims? Does it obey him, or will it destroy me despite his promise? _And moreover, would he himself be able to stretch the truth enough to answer whatever the boy should ask of him 'honestly' if he did, in fact, control it?

The odor of rotting eggs was almost overpowering now. It was the stink of his fear, though in humans it would have been passed off as flatulence. But then he surrendered an audible exhaling of his sigh once again. The boy was right. The scales were tipped in the _Exemplar_'s favor, and any other chance to save his own life was... nebulous. He had known that he would have to take some chances to succeed in what he planned. He had just not been prepared for this big of a risk. At least, not this early.

The creature's fingers closed around the Golden relic resting in the boy's hand, briefly brushing against the other's warm flesh as he did so. For a moment... and just for a moment, his instincts got the better of him and his stomach started to growl in hunger, longing to try to take the boy's soul and feast upon it.

_Bah! And see him grind me to dust the moment that I try..._

The demon was trembling violently as the golden Crest of Heroes lay in his hand, feeling cold and looking almost inert. But the nervousness, from his point of view at least, was quite understandable. For within that tiny talisman, he knew that the angels had set a spark by which the righteous could call upon a bare fragment of the power of God. In the hands of a pagan it would be useless; in the hands of a believer it would have the power to cause miracles. In the hands of the _Exemplar_... it might well reshape the world at his will.

But to him, the power within the Crest was death. Should it choose it could easily blast him back into the nothingness from which he had come. A Power like Merodach might have the ability to survive one such explosive rush if given time to prepare, but he most certainly did not.

The silence surrounding the pair was deafening as the demon awaited his death in a wash of Golden fire and the boy Paragon thought of the fairest way to establish if the demon truly meant no harm to either him or Kari... well, mainly Kari. And then, after what seemed like an eternity to the creature, the child spoke. "Do you swear that it is the one that you call Brother who is threatening Kari's life?"

_A good, easy start. _"Yes. I swear."

"And that you will do neither Kari or I any harm?"

The creature would have bitten a lip if it had had one, his mind working feverishly. After a moment, he answered, "That I cannot swear to. For there certainly will come a time, should we both live to see it, where we will be on opposite sides of the Great Battle. In that instance, I would be obliged to try to kill you both."

The boy frowned. "Until we see that your Brother is no longer a threat to either of you, then."

This was going better than the demon had hoped for. The boy clearly had a single train of thought at the moment, one that made it easier for the creature to steer his questions away from a dangerous area. "To that I shall swear." And still the golden Crest remained inert, for evidently the boy had willed it to strike only if he should blatantly speak a lie.

In at least one area, the demon was utterly correct. Since the creature had appeared, not a thought had occurred to T.K. that did not, in one way or another, focus on the little brown-haired girl who was his most beloved. He would do anything... _anything _for her. And if that meant making a deal with this devil while his spirit screamed out against it... then so be it. While his immortal soul may have been Paragon, his heart and his mind were still very mortal and so were quite swayed by his overpowering, compulsive love for Kari.

"And swear that you will do whatever you can to help me to stop your Brother."

"I will. I swear. Though I fear that will be little enough. If I had strength enough to fight him, I would not be forced to deal with you. Any help that I can give will be... limited. But I will take you to where he is, and do whatever I can to ensure that you come to him safely. After all... my very existence depends upon you."

T.K. studied the creature carefully before nodding glumly and taking the Crest back from it, the thought of alliance galling to him. In one hand he held the life of a devil; in the other hand, the life of his own, mortal angel. He could only pray, and pray fervently, that what he was doing was correct.

--

It was a cold, wet, breezy day in the world of the _a'ladon, _far away from where T.K. struggled with the knowledge that he was willingly dealing with one of the fallen angels. A very long way away, but there was one in that world who suddenly felt, at the moment of the boy's anguished decision, that something very wrong had happened to someone that he cared deeply for.

The slender, squirrel-like creature, perhaps a bit less than four feet in height, quite suddenly stopped what he had been doing. Between plucking one chord of his harp and on the way to the next his tiny claws stopped their lively dance across the strings of the instrument as the blue eyes of the child gazed on something very distant, something far off on the horizon.

What had he been singing about? He paused... oh, yes. His father's friend, the Lord Takeru. The strange, otherworldly creature that many generations of _a'ladon _(as well as some who still lived today) believed was some sort of deity. The creature who had saved his people from a horrible evil at least once (twice, if the legends were to be believed), and the one who had brought his own father's body back from the near-apocalyptic battle in which the two of them had entombed the Greater demon, Da'saan.

He knew this part of the tales to be true, of course, for his mother had told him of that last, heroic struggle. His father, too, had at times appeared to him in visions to tell of the other's valor. More often, T'Kai would speak of matters of virtue which he would see his son adopt, but the boy's favorite times were in those dreams where his father would place those virtues in the context of his great friend.

"Uhm... _hello_?" the boy heard a sharp voice in his ear, and a moment later a paw (which very much resembled his own) appeared in front of his blue eyes and started to wave frantically.

He tried to ignore it, getting the feeling that there was something important to be learned here, but...

"Helloooooo! Eloan!" After a quick (though loud) snapping of fingers... "Eloan! Hoi, Eloan! Hello big brother!"

The boy shook his head to clear it, then blinked his eyes a few times to focus on the girl standing in front of him. "Ailora," he groused at his twin sister, his brow furrowing in a reproachful, disapproving manner. "Didn't mom tell you not to interrupt when the second sight comes to me? It might be something important!"

The girl flashed her charming smile at her brother. That _very _charming smile, and even though he _was _her brother and had probably seen it every day since she had learned to use it, it still never failed to throw even him off guard. The boy was flustered as she replied, "Listen Eloan, I don't care if you doze off or start to lose it or whatever you call it most of the time, but you were just getting to the good part! Just get through the part about Lord Takeru and then you can go back to seeing whatever you want. If you think it'll help, I can fetch you some spoiled mushrooms to get your hallucinations started again."

"About the Lord Takeru _and _Lady Hikari?" the elder of the two (by about fifteen minutes) prompted slyly, knowing what the girl's reaction would be.

Ailora rolled her bluish-green eyes in irritation at her brother. "Whatever. Until you can find a way to write a song that doesn't mention her then it'll have to do."

Eloan grinned, winking once at the girl. "You wouldn't even have a chance, you know. Everything that we know about them, even mom, says that he was completely in love with her. Anyway, you'd be just a kid to him... and a different species to boot."

This was a frequent argument for the pair, and something easy for Eloan to fall back on whenever he wanted to get a rise from his sister... probably because both of them knew that he was almost certainly right (though she would never admit it). But despite that fact, there was very little doubt that Ailora still remained quite in love with her idea of the Lord Takeru, as she had since a very young age.

"You don't know that, 'loan," the other said, rather primly. "The last time that they were here mom said that that they'd only gotten two years older since they'd come the first time, even though it'd been hundreds of years for us." Eloan bit his lip and rolled his eyes, though his sister was now almost certainly too wrapped up in her musings to see. Great. She was going to start talking about the 'first time' again. "So if he comes back again and is just _another _two years older... it'd be just _perfect_," she finished with a wistful sigh.

It was at that very moment that the boy's sharp ears perked up, the faint sound of a chime merrily ringing in the distance having been brought to him on the gentle breeze. Saved by the bell...

"Ailora, c'mon, it's time to go," he said quickly, interrupting the gushing adoration that was about to spill from his sister's mouth before she could get started. "Mom's ringing the chimes. It's time to get back."

The younger girl opened her mouth to retort, then seemed to think about what she was going to say and stopped. A sly, rather impish smile slowly appeared on her lips. She had to trust her brother about the bell being rung (his own ears being quite a bit sharper than hers... or really anyone's), but that didn't mean that she couldn't get back at him for interrupting her when talking about her favorite subject. After a moment in which she gave the boy time to think about what was going to happen, the mischievous girl dropped down to all fours. "Race ya," she said with a wink, and then with a bounding liveliness was off before her brother could utter a single word in response.

The boy's blue eyes widened. "Ailora! No, Ailora, stop! You know that mom says that we're supposed to... stay... together..." his shout trailed off. As quickly as she had darted away, there had been almost no chance of her hearing his call. Or heeding it if she had. The boy scowled, hurriedly place his harp over his shoulder and starting off at a quick trot. For of course, he could not realistically go on all fours as his sister had with the instrument with him, and had never really learned to do so anyway. It was just one of the (admittedly many) advantages that the naturally athletic girl held on him.

"Takeru save me from rainy days, sour notes, and little sisters who're far too fast for their own good," the boy murmured darkly, trying as he ran to recapture the vision that he had lost when Ailora had interrupted him. It'd had something to do with the Lord Takeru, of that he was certain. But this time, there was an odd sort of heaviness, of resignation, that he had started to feel at the emergence of the image.

Despite what his sister felt, and also that fact that he swore by him, Eloan did not consider Takeru a god. His parents had been quite clear on that fact, though they remained a bit nebulous about what exactly they _did _believe him to be. It had confused both he and his sister quite a bit when they were younger, but Kiara had told them that they both had to make up their own minds about just what he was as they grew older.

Ailora had been quite clear in her decision: Takeru was a god of some sort, if a minor one (and this last part solely to appease their parents). What she felt for him was more than admiration... was more than awe. She was completely and totally enthralled with everything about him, and as such had gathered a veritable library in her room dedicated to the creature. In her mind she had an encyclopedia of quotes attributed to him, and had one ready at seemingly any situation. She strived to live as the _a'ladon _assumed that he did, and those who did not attempt to do so as well she looked down upon.

The boy shifted the harp to his other shoulder, the thin string having started to cut into his flesh on this side. And what did he think...?

That was hard to say... or rather, hard to say for certain. It was true that Takeru had stood in battle against the demon Da'saan, but then, so had his own father. There were also the ancient stories about Takeru and Hikari coming to help King Mylam when the world had been younger, but as few written records remained from that time most of what had happened back then existed as fables or as songs. Not what the boy (even though he himself was slowly becoming a fine minstrel) considered terribly reliable information.

Supernatural being? Demigod? Angel? None of these words really seemed to fit what Eloan had decided, but they were the closest that he could come.

It was then that a branch of a nearby tree snagged the boy's cloak, the loud sound of the cloth ripping apart pulling him from his reverie as his momentum threw him to the ground. Eloan hit heavily, the breath exploding from his lungs as his harp tumbled from his shoulder and rolled a goodly distance away.

The boy kneeled over for a moment, unlocking the clasp around his neck and allowing the tree branch to keep its prize for the moment. With his arms holding his stomach, he sat quietly for a few moments to try to catch his breath.

It was then that he heard a set of voices brushing through the trees at his back, and the wind (now blowing from the opposite direction) brought to him a rather foul stench which alarmed the boy. _Saurians? _his mind instantly recognized, the feeling of instinctive danger which accompanied the thought making his eyes start to scan the nearby area for a place to hide.

Eloan scanned both the thick underbrush of the forest as well as the treetops. _Up, or down? _he wondered as the noises and smells rambled closer and closer to his position. The creatures were much less likely to find him at the top of the trees, of course, but he'd have a much better chance to escape if he _were _found while in the brush.

Running out of time and on impulse, he scrambled quickly up the tree. Unfortunately the tree that he chose was not in the best of health, and a shower of bark tumbled from the trunk as he pulled himself up and through the thick branches. Just in the nick of time, Eloan remembered his cloak still dangling from the branch nearest the ground and nipped back down to pull it back into the foliage of the branches.

And then not one, but two Saurians came trotting into the clearing. But these were not the tall, bipedal creatures that the boy had seen on occasion after the king had made his proclamation that the race was to be allowed at least nominal access to their nation. 'After all,' his highness had been heard to say in his speech, 'are we all not brothers? In spirit if not in flesh?' And though Eloan couldn't exactly fault such seemingly beatific line of thinking... there was still something about it that didn't sit right with him. Through all their mutual history, the lizard-people had proven themselves to be both evil and untrustworthy. It just seemed to the boy to be a bit... unwise to have confidence in them now.

But these that he saw now were hardly of that race at all. These were the large, lumbering creature who still walked on all fours instead of upright and were frequently used as mounts by many of their brethren. Except that, atop this pair sat not more Saurians, but _a'ladon._

The two were donned in immaculate dress, identical velvety black cloaks whipping about their shoulders with the breeze and even boots of a sort covering their feet. The boy was a bit surprised at this last fact. Very few _a'ladon, _outside of the very rich, wore any type of footwear. It was both expensive to find and (in the opinion of most) quite unpractical to wear.

The pair had dark brown, almost black fur that matched very neatly with the color of their boots and gloves. This also caused the boy to frown, most of the inhabitants of this part of the nation being a natural reddish hue. _From the far north, _the boy said silently to himself. _Part of the nobility?_

One of the pair, the taller of the two, looked about the area beneath which the boy sat and started to sniff at the air. Fortunately he was a bit upwind, and so did not detect the boy's scent... assuming he would have been able to in the first place. Frowning a bit, he leaned in close to his counterpart. "I don't like this, Kedar. I heard something. I know it."

The other, Kedar, pulled hard on the reins of his Saurian mount as he sat to keep it from wandering. "Of course you did. You heard this blasted wind rustling through the damned trees. How do these Southerners live like this? I'm freezing and there's no civilization around for leagues."

The other stopped his sniffing and turned to his partner with a sneer on his lips. "Stop being a child, Kedar. Are you a soldier or a babe with all of the whimpering that I've had to put up with during the last week? I'm no happier about it than you are, but if the king says to march, we march. If he says to fight, we fight."

"If he suddenly decides we're all really lemmings, we toss ourselves into the ocean," the other murmured under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," the other returned, this time more loudly. "I'm just a little... nervous, you know? Have you seen him? He looks like a man possessed lately. And I don't care what he or Sarge or even you say, nothing good can come from him going into that mountain."

At this Eloan's ears perked up and he crept a bit closer to the pair, gliding silently among the branches of the tree. Mountain? Surely they didn't mean that King Jeron himself had come all the way to the deep south and had gone _into _Cypress. Even if it were not expressly forbidden by the laws that the king himself had created, the soldier named Kedar surely was right. Nothing good could come of him going in there.

The first soldier shrugged, giving a vague signal of some sort to his companion. "Sure there can. Some sort of holy pilgrimage, if you believe Sarge. After all, it was the victory in the battle there that made him king in the first place. T'Kai was his follower, and he rode the defeat of that demon all the way to the crown."

But then, with almost lightning-fast reflexes the soldier whipped out his long weapon and sliced upwards into the branches of the tree, missing Eloan's arm by scant inches but succeeding in severing the branch on which the boy sat. With the crackling and breaking of many smaller twigs and a sharp cry, the young _a'ladon _plummeted from the tree to land on the rocky soil at the feet of the soldier's mount.

"Well, well now, what have we here?" the soldier said, pulling himself up to his full height and looking down at Eloan as the boy tried to recapture the breath that the fall had knocked from his lungs. Noticing that his partner looked just as surprised as the child at his feet, the taller _a'ladon _shook his head disdainfully. "Your senses are growing dull, Kedar. You'd have to be as deaf as a post not to hear all that rustling he was making up there." And then he turned back to Eloan. "And the next time you want to eavesdrop, _boy_, best be certain that you don't leave your toys where they can be found." And he nodded at Eloan's fallen harp, resting at the base of the tree.

Eloan allowed himself a mental profanity for not thinking of the instrument as well as not being as nimble as his sister. But he gave no indication to the others of blaming himself and struggled to a knee as he caught his breath. "You... you're trespassing..."

The two atop the Saurians seemed to think this over for a bit, then burst out laughing. "We? We, trespassing, child? We are soldiers in the service of your king Jeron, as surely you know if you could hear anything from up there! There is nowhere in his realm where passage is forbidden to us!"

Eloan gave another cough, his ire starting to rise to the surface. Not for being caught (that was mostly his own fault) but being talked to as such by soldiers of a regime of which he quite honestly did not approve. This valley, given to his mother in honor of his father's sacrifice, had become a virtual orphanage for hundreds of _a'ladon _children whose parents had seemingly vanished into thin air. The boy had no proof, of course, but he had always felt that the government, if not directly involved, was certainly doing nothing to stop the disappearances.

"_This _land belongs to my mother, and unless he has overturned his own laws even the king must be granted permission to pass into the Valley of Ash and Tears!"

The look in the first soldier's eyes became almost unreadable as he looked closely at the boy, then to his harp, and then back again. "You are the son of T'Kai? Eloan?"

The boy's brow remained furrowed in anger, but he did manage to nod once. "It little befits one of your heritage and station to be _spying_, Eloan," the older creature chided. "But as it happens, the king is at this moment on his way to see your mother to ask her permission to cross the valley and into Cypress. Despite what the people may think these days, he has not forgotten his laws and _will _honor them."

This answer appeared to placate the boy, if just a bit. "Come," said the first soldier, extending a paw to the boy. "Ride with me, and we will take you back to your mother to prove what we say is true." With a quick glance at the rapidly setting sun against the horizon, he nodded. "It would be best to get you back to her before the sun sets anyway. I've heard tell that spirits haunt this land after dark."

"The spirits won't hurt me," the boy murmured defiantly, but nevertheless he did take the gloved hand that was offered him after returning to fetch the harp that had given him away moments ago. Sitting on the back of the smelly, scaly creature was not exactly what he'd call an enjoyable ride, but the solider was right. It really was unsafe for him to be away from home after dark.

Of course, as he'd said before, he wasn't concerned about the spirits. But if he was still afield after sunset, he _would _have to be concerned about his mother, a switch, and the banshee-like fury that she would pour out upon his backside...

--

Pegasusmon swooped low over the rooftop of the apartment complex where Kari and her family lived, T.K. holding tightly to the stallion's golden armor. The fierce wind that had been blowing earlier in the day had faded with the coming of nightfall, seemingly in deference to the anguish that the boy felt at his decision. Pegasusmon was also silent, already having tried (and failed) to dissuade the boy from his chosen course of action.

"Right here, Pegasusmon," the boy murmured into his partner's ear as they drifted silently by the balcony which led to the girl's room.

The other nodded, slowing as much as possible while remaining airborne to allow the boy to leap from his back onto the parapet. Nodding in satisfaction as the other landed safely, the stallion gave a quick, upwards glance with his eyes to remind T.K. where he would be when it came time for the two of them to leave. The boy, likewise, answered with a silent glance of his own. After so many years of working side by side, words had become relatively unnecessary between the pair.

T.K. crept towards the girl's sliding door, feeling almost like a criminal as he stayed in the shadows and eased open the door. The sentiment offended him greatly, almost as much as Patamon's suggestion that he was a coward for doing it like this, but his mind had been made up. He had sworn before that he would never again leave Kari without saying goodbye, but this was something that he could not say to her face. Not when she was awake, anyway.

And so he had been forced to play it cool throughout dinner. And to his credit, not once did he crack when Mrs. Kamiya, then Gatomon, then finally even Kari herself had asked him what was wrong. If anything, he was somewhat disappointed in himself. He'd thought that he had put on a good enough act to fool at least one of them.

_Am I really a coward for doing it like this? _the boy wondered, the words stinging a bit more each time he heard Patamon's piping voice echo them in his brain. But no. Just what was he supposed to say to her to explain his leaving? 'Kari, I'm going off with a demon to have a battle to the death with a bigger demon because in a few days he's planning to rape you and kill you?'

Boy, wouldn't that go over well.

"Sure," the boy murmured under his breath as he eased open the door. "'Tell her the truth', he says. 'She'll understand that you're doing what you think is best', he says. 'It might be easier than you think'."

Either Patamon had suddenly and inexplicably turned into the world's worst liar or he _really _didn't know Kari. It had only been when the boy had asked him how Gatomon would feel if _he _had been planning to do something similar that the little orange mammal had finally shut up about it. _Exactly, _he had told his partner. _And I wouldn't like having my eyes clawed out any more than you would._

T.K. stepped silently inside the sliding glass door, removing the little white note from his pocket as he moved. Patamon hadn't seemed to understand just why T.K. had to sneak into the girl's bedroom just to deliver a letter that could just as easily be given to someone else to deliver once he had gone. But this... this was more than just about delivering a note to explain why he was doing what he was doing. In addition... he had to _say _goodbye. He didn't really know why any more than Patamon did, except to say that he had promised.

The light from the gibbous moon filtering through the glass provided the only illumination in the room, and T.K. stepped lightly to avoid waking either the sleeping girl or the rest of the household. Gatomon in particular would be quite a problem if she thought him an intruder and decided to act on that notion. Fortunately the feline digimon had taken to sleeping by the front door instead of in Kari's room during the past year. Otherwise, this might be nearly impossible.

And then, disaster nearly struck. As it sat resting upon Kari's dresser, the seemingly lifeless Crest of Light suddenly flared into radiant existence as it felt the approach of its other half, T.K.'s Crest of Hope. As joyful in greeting the pair as its owner would have been if she had been awake, the little talisman began to emit a pulsating, almost musical series of lights that would have captivated the boy with their brilliance if he was not careful.

But almost immediately and before the Light of All Colors could awaken the girl, T.K.'s Crest of Hope also sprang to life with its golden vigor. At the boundary where the two lights met the pinkish spark of Faith was once again revealed to the boy, if only for a moment as his own Crest did its best to calm its partner into a less enthusiastic greeting. T.K., so closely bound with the holy spirit of the crest, could almost hear the confusion behind the response of the Crest of Light, but still it did as its partner bade and so muted its welcome.

With a nod, T.K. slipped forward and placed the letter on the dresser beside the Crest where Kari would be certain to find it the following morning. He smiled an acknowledgement to the pink talisman before turning around and kneeling beside Kari's bed.

The boy smiled affectionately at the simple look of peace on Kari's face as she slept, her chest rising and falling beneath the covers in a strong affirmation of her life. If any doubts had remained for him about what he was doing, they were erased at that very moment. Kari had been through so much in her young life that now that she was finally at peace, he doubted that he could bear to burden her with the knowledge that had been forced upon him. His leaving would hurt her for a bit, yes, but better to have the battle as far away from her as possible than to have her at risk.

If he should win, so much the better. Then she need never know the danger that she had been in and could be spared even the sight of the demon that sought out her soul. If he should lose... the boy did not relish even thinking about that very real possibility, but then at least she would be spared the pain of watching him die. If it should come down to the latter... well, he had left instructions with Patamon about what to do and who to contact. This battle must happen. Better to have it now and have a contingency plan in place instead of allowing the Beast to choose the time and location.

The look on the boy's face was warm as he studied the sleeping girl with his troubled blue eyes. He honestly didn't know at that moment whether he felt like laughing or crying. For though he knew and was deeply troubled by the fact that this could very well be the last time that he would ever lay eyes on Kari, he could not regret his decision. If it was to be his fate to die in an attempt to save her soul, he could not think of a better way to die. But as he had told Patamon, he just couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

"Kari..." he murmured in his most quiet whisper so as to make certain not to wake the girl. But even though his mind was entirely set on doing so, there remained some rebellious part of his soul locked away deep inside that _did _want her to wake and to hear his words. "I guess I've got to say goodbye again. Last time I said it, it was so hard to say. You remember, don't you? When I left you to fight against Roan and the Fiends? That time I almost didn't go because I saw the hurt in your eyes that my leaving would cause?"

"I don't think it will be so hard this time... at least, not quite so. The last time I left, it was because I was told to go. God and his angels made it perfectly clear that if I didn't go to stop them, Roan and the others might have destroyed the whole world. Maybe both of them."

"But this time no one's told me to go. This doesn't have anything to do with worlds or with Hatred or Terror or the battles between good and evil or any of that... at least, I don't think so. This is just about us. About me being able to look you in the eyes across the dinner table and not have to pretend that everything is fine. About finally being able to live like other people in this world live, and love like they love."

A single tear rolled down the boy's cheek to splash on the girl's thin covers as his fingertips brushed against her hand, ever so lightly to avoid waking her. "Kari, why does it have to be like this? Do you know? If you do I wish you'd have said something, because no one else will tell me. If he knows, Gabriel won't tell me. God surely knows, but He hasn't given me any great revelations about it. I feel like I'm trapped in a dark room, surrounded by a thousand swords with only your Light as a candle in the distance to guide me."

"Well now comes a wind to extinguish that candle. And to place myself between the two I'm running forward almost blindly, heedless of the swords. If I lose that Light, I am lost and without Hope anyway. I cannot imagine being trapped in this world without it... without you."

And then the boy removed the silvery ring from the chain around his neck that also held his Crest. Holding it between two fingers, he murmured as quietly as possible, "This is for you when I get back, Kari. This, and all that goes with it. This little ring is a divine affirmation of what we have together, Kari. One of Michael's gave it to me, telling me to give it to you when I was ready. And after I take care of this last thing, I promise that I'll be ready. Just a little while longer, Kari, and then we will be together."

The boy paused, then placed both ring and Crest away as he stood. Quickly he placed two fingers of his hand against his lips, then gently brushed those same two against Kari's lips as well. "Above all things, this I promise to you Kari Kamiya. No matter what happens, I'll always love you."

And then, silent as a wraith, the boy was back out on the balcony and holding his hand high over his head in a silent signal to his mount. But even as he leapt upon the back of the golden stallion, the girl that he had just left smiled in her sleep and murmured words that later not even she would remember.

"I trust you, T.K. God and my heart go with you..."

__

To be continued...


	2. Servants of the One

_"T.K.!"_

Kari jerked straight up in bed, her heart pounding feverishly inside her chest and a startled appearance in her eyes as she made a quick survey of her bedroom. All of a sudden and in the midst of a very restful sleep, the most horrid feeling of nakedness... of vulnerability... had brutally yanked her back to the waking world. It was haunting to the girl, feeling the danger so close but not knowing just where the sensation was coming from. She could _see _nothing outwardly dangerous to her, even though the early morning light trickling through the window made even the most familiar items scattered about the room cast odd, irregular shadows upon the floor.

The girl held a hand to her chest and exhaled a sigh, slowing her rapid intake of air in order to relax her nerves. There was no danger here. This was her own bedroom, with two parents, one (visiting) older brother and one champion-level digimon within five seconds of her call. After fighting through a great many years of her young life, her world was finally at peace.

If she was not safe here, she was not safe anywhere.

As she remembered all of this, a calm smile replaced the anxious look on her face. Turning around in her bed and fluffing up her pillow, the girl lay back down and prepared to drift off to sleep once again...

...only to find after a few minutes that, no matter how much she tried, sleep would not come to her. Despite her conscious knowledge of peace and safety, something within her still shouted a danger at her soul.

T.K. _He _had known something was wrong. At dinner last night. Though he had tried and tried repeatedly to pass off his obvious discomfort as 'nothing... really', it had been quite obvious to all that there was _something _troubling on the boy's mind. Gatomon and her mother had shrugged it off and seemed content to allow the boy his space, but Kari had been less willing to do so. As she had told him (quite directly), his problems were always her problems as well.

T.K.'s face had gone very nearly as white as a patch of newly fallen snow when she'd said that. In a stammering voice, he had responded with some very transparent lie about troubles at school or some such. That in itself had disturbed the girl. T.K. was always, _always _unfailingly truthful with her unless he felt in one way or another that telling her the truth could endanger her.

With a yawn and a frustrated look on her face, the girl once again sat up in bed and stretched her arms high over her head. Well, whatever it was, she trusted T.K. implicitly. There was no doubt in her mind that, whatever his reason was for lying to her, it was a good one. She had seen the heartbreaking, tortured look in his eyes ever since he had arrived at the apartment for dinner... a look so very different from the moderately peaceful one that he had worn during the past year.

Now convinced that she would not get back to sleep, Kari hopped out of bed and started to change into her weekend clothes. No more school uniforms for two whole days... thank goodness. After quickly slipping into her jeans and t-shirt, the girl took the Crest of Light from its place on the dresser, unfastened the clasp, and placed the tiny little talisman around her neck.

A sudden flicker of images, vague and indistinct, knifed rapidly through Kari's brain as the little relic fell against her chest. With a sudden cry, one more of surprise than pain, one of the girl's hands flew to her head and grabbed at her temples. After fumbling around for a brief moment with the other hand, she managed to clutch the pinkish talisman within her fist and hold it tightly. _Wait... wait, _she instructed desperately, throwing her plea at the spirit within the Crest. _It's too much. Go slower._

With a gasp of relief from the girl and as quickly as they had started, the rapid-fire images abruptly came to a stop. Kari stared ahead in a blank perplexity for a moment as she tried to take in everything that the Crest had shown her, not for one moment stopping to wonder where the object had learned to do something like that. It certainly never had before.

But as she slowly began to sort out as much as she possibly could, Kari began to realize that there was so much more than simple images contained within what the Crest had shown her. There was sound. There was smell. And there were great, tangible emotions. Love. Hatred. Desperation. Loneliness. Confusion...

Then, tentatively, Kari placed two fingers upon the crest where it lay against her heart. _Show me again, _she instructed wordlessly. _More gently this time._

The spirit within the little relic seemed to understand her... at the very least did as she asked. And then almost like a dream being played directly into her brain, the girl was allowed to witness what had transpired during the night as she had slept. Or rather, she was allowed to see what had happened as the Crest interpreted it. For though she somehow understood some of what was happening, it did not appear to her in conventional images. Instead, it was as if the Crest could only show her everything in an allegorical fashion... symbolic imagery which she did not entirely understand.

Her room itself seemed much smaller from the point of view of the object... but then, the entire world evidently seemed much smaller to it than it did to her. The breadth of the very Earth seemed suddenly very constricting and confining... it was almost like a prison to her as she saw through those eyes. Objects around the room which she had taken for granted in so many ways became suddenly more fascinating to the girl as she saw them now.

And then, after a short while, a vision of T.K. entered the room. From the back door, the girl assumed. She knew it to be T.K. only by the holy bond that the two shared, for the Crest and its strange, abstract vision did not show him in the familiar form that Kari was used to. Rather it came through to her mind as something entirely different, though the love of the little relic for the boy was certainly as strong as her own. She almost smiled while in affinity with the Crest's pride. _Our Paragon..._

He seemed anxious... agitated. Or rather, she amended, he _felt _anxious. Though his connection with otherworldly powers, she was now right alongside T.K. and at once experienced every emotion that came upon him. She was almost stunned by the raw intensity of the boy's feelings; the weight of the burden that was carrying across his shoulders that night almost made her eyes tear with sympathy. _Albatross..._

Had he just placed something on the dresser beside her Crest? _Great Imperilment... _The girl frowned. There was nothing there now. And why would he be sneaking into her bedroom in the dead of night to leave something that he could just as easily have given her at dinner?

_Of course_, she realized sadly as she watched him leave the dresser and kneel at her side. _That _was the burden that he was carrying. He was leaving. She could see the sadness draped over the boy's face like a dark veil as he gently touched her hand while she slept. But it was a sadness that was just as quickly supplanted by determination, a determination so fierce that Kari wondered what had happened to arouse it in the normally placid boy.

_The Greatest Heart... _

Kari gasped, overwhelmed by the sudden expression from the spirit of the Crest. The girl placed a hand upon the dresser to steady herself, bringing her other hand to her heart as the vast, raw intensity of emotion threatened to overwhelm her in one single ardent wave. As the boy knelt by her bed and spoke words that she could not understand to her sleeping form, she was very nearly stunned into insensibility at the sudden rush of great emotion from him. The girl blinked rapidly, the breath that had been taken away coming back to her only in short gasps. _That... that is what he feels for me? Dear God... I... I didn't...couldn't... know. _

She _did _know, of course, that he loved her. He had sworn and proved that to her countless times in the past. But what she had felt from him in that instant... it was somehow so completely beyond what she would describe as love. An awesome emotion so incredibly deep and yet somehow so simple and pure. For a moment she struggled to take it all in, though she might well have tried to drink an entire ocean in a single mouthful.

And then the girl broke off contact with the Crest before the scenario could be played out in its entirety, not certain if she could stand to experience that depth of emotion any longer. In all honesty it was more than she had ever though possible, even from T.K. To feel that profoundly...

But before she had broken away from the vision, she had also gotten a brief sense of loss. Of regret, probably from T.K. as well. Yes. As she had first thought while witnessing the scene, he was leaving. He had come into her room to keep his promise and to tell her that he was going... even if he was not exactly keeping with the spirit of that promise. Something had happened and he was going away. _Maybe to fight again?_ The girl was almost certain it had to be something like that. And he was afraid that if she knew she would insist on going and fighting right alongside him.

Kari stamped her foot in frustration with his gallant, overprotective instincts. "Oh, _T.K.,"_ she sighed, both softly and dangerously; a tone that meant at the very least a serious scolding for the boy when she caught up with him. "Not again..."

And then the girl's open eyes fell on the spot beside where the Crest had lain, where she had thought the vision had shown T.K. leaving something behind. True to her memory, there was nothing there now. Kari might have puzzled over this further, but at that moment the door to her bedroom snapped open quickly.

Gatomon slipped in on silent, feline paws and stared at her human partner with an almost palpable concern in her eyes. "Kari?"

"'morning, Gatomon."

"Kari... are you blushing? And crying?"

The girl, startled, reached a hand up to touch her cheek and found that it was indeed wet with tears. But then, after what the Crest had allowed her to see (and feel), she didn't really doubt that she was both crying _and _blushing. She shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"T.K. was in here last night, wasn't he?" It was really more of a statement, not a question, and the deadly serious tone of the feline's voice startled the girl just a bit. Wordlessly Kari nodded, confirming what her partner had said. Gatomon's lips pursed together in a most un-catlike way and, after a moment's pause, continued. "I think he's in some kind of trouble."

Kari felt suddenly very cold. When she had seen him through the eyes of her Crest, she also had gotten the idea that the boy might well be in some sort of danger of some sort. To have her partner thinking the same thing... "Wait a minute," the girl said, shaking her head. "How did you know about--"

Without even allowing Kari to finish her question, Gatomon turned and half led, half pulled a despondent Patamon into the room with her. The orangish little digimon just stood there in silence, eyes seemingly attached to the floor and simply unwilling to look up at Kari. Tired of trying to puzzle it out on her own, Kari began. "Patamon? What--"

She never had a chance to get any further, for at that moment the little creature could no longer hold back the tears and all but threw himself at the human girl's feet. "Kari... Kari, I'm so sorry!" he sobbed fiercely, tightly embracing her ankle as his long ears lay limp upon the floor to accentuate his despair . "He... he's gone. I let him go. He wouldn't listen to me!"

Kari, not feeling too cheery in the first place, now felt her heart sink even further. Kneeling down, she picked up the weeping little creature and held him close against her chest. And though they were silent now, she could still feel the sobs as they shook through his furry body and the tears as they fell onto her bare arms. Almost without seeming to stop for breath he poured out what he knew of T.K.'s story to Kari and Gatomon, from the danger Kari was in to the boy's dealings with an agent of evil to the hurried departure of the night before.

_Danger... _Kari's brow furrowed in concentration. Then, after a moment or so, she focused on the nearly hysterical digimon in her lap. "He wouldn't tell you what kind of danger? What he was going to do?"

Patamon responded with a weak, silent shake of his head, and Kari's frown deepened. Now that _was _a bit odd. Trying to protect her by keeping something from _her _would not be totally out of character for T.K. Keeping his partner in the dark about it as well... that most certainly was. The bond of trust and love between the boy and Patamon was very strong, even more so than the naturally strong friendship between a digimon and his 'destined. And how much did Patamon fear for her if he too had broken that trust and come to her clear contrary to T.K.'s wishes?

Now Gatomon was at Patamon's side, removing one of her battle gloves and laying a paw gently across his furry back. Kari, even amidst the turmoil of her own emotions, was quite surprised at this gesture from her partner. Those gloves were a sort of psychological crutch for the little feline... a protection of sorts from too much contact with others. Even Wizardmon, whom she loved dearly, was not permitted to touch her paws without the gloves covering them. In his despondent state, Patamon probably didn't even notice. Kari did.

But whether the little creature knew the significance of the gesture or not, the touch of the little feline across his back did seem to calm him down a bit. Then Kari had a revelation. "Patamon? You said he was bringing a note to leave me, right?"

The other nodded sadly. "I told him that he should just tell you the truth, however bad it was. He said it had to be a note, 'cause you probably wouldn't understand."

_Oh, T.K... I understand. I do now, believe me, even if I didn't before. _For of course her Crest had allowed her, just for a moment, to feel as the boy felt. Back during the battle in Iwaki two years ago when T.K. had almost died, she had been given a vision by the Archangel Gabriel to hurry her to his side. A part of that vision had been the angel's explanation that T.K. experienced love 'as we ourselves know love'. Kari had never really known what that had meant until now.

And then she remembered, with a blush, how in an early adolescent rush of passion she had very nearly seduced the boy. Twice. In the end he had, unwillingly it seemed, talked her out of what she'd had in mind. And all this time she had been secure in the knowledge that he had done so easily, not feeling for her exactly what she felt for him. Now that she knew his feelings were, if anything, stronger... it made her even more ashamed of what she almost done those two years ago.

Kari sighed, pondering over the missing note... if that was indeed what T.K. had placed on her dresser the night before. Had her mother come into her room earlier in the morning and for some reason taken it away? She looked on the floor at the foot of the piece of furniture. It hadn't fallen... at least, not anywhere where she could readily see it. The girl turned her eyes away from the digimon, seemingly deep in thought.

"I'm going after him," she murmured quietly, as if to herself.

Gatomon, her unsheathed paw still resting across Patamon's back, peered gravely at her human partner. "Kari, I'm not so sure you've thought this through. T.K. had to have a good reason for slipping off without you. If he thinks that there's some kind of danger..."

Kari folded her arms across her chest as she interrupted. "That's just it, Gatomon. He's doing this for me, not for anyone else. Didn't you hear what Patamon said? He's allied himself with a demon. A _demon_, Gatomon! You know how sick it makes him to just be around one of those things. I may be in danger, but how much more has he put himself in for me? How bad would the trouble have to be to make him do that?"

After a long moment, Gatomon got the feeling that the girl's question wasn't rhetorical. She shrugged. "I don't know. Pretty bad, I guess."

"_Pretty _bad?"

The digimon frowned, now idly stroking Patamon's long ears with her bare paw. The gesture seemed to have calmed him down, at least. "Okay, really bad. What's your point, Kari?"

The girl looked to be on the verge of tears, but bit her lip hard to keep them from falling. "My point is that T.K. is so worried about being brave and noble that he hasn't thought about his own safety for an instant. A demon... a demon will betray him at the first chance it gets, and if the thing he's going to fight is so powerful that he's willing to chance joining up with one then he _can't _fight it on his own. He's going to need me... need us. He doesn't want me along because he _thinks _I'll get hurt, but I'm going because I'm _sure _he will."

The little feline frowned. "Kari, don't you think he's already thought of that? I mean, even if the thing is helping him, he wouldn't _trust _it. He's smart enough to look out for himself."

Kari's brown eyes were unreadable. "Really, Gatomon? Listen to yourself. You know T.K. almost as well as I do. If he thinks I'm in danger do you suppose he's taken even one passing second to think about his own safety?"

Gatomon opened her mouth, a retort ready to spring from her lips when she stopped, Kari's words slowly sinking in. "Exactly," Kari continued at seeing the recognition dawn on her partner's face. "He hasn't thought about anything. That brave, stupid heart of his has run off with his body and left his brain behind _again_! How many times can that happen with one guy?"

The more Kari thought about it, the more frustrated she got... and Gatomon could tell. Right now she was just mad at T.K., but in a moment or so after she'd come to the obvious conclusion that if it weren't for her T.K. would be perfectly safe, and then would start getting mad at herself as well. So to divert that train of thought and the tantrum that would be sure to follow, the little digimon gave in. "So we're going after him. Okay. I haven't had a good fight in a long time now."

Kari, just on the verge of getting her ire up, was seemingly confused by the other's sudden agreement. "But how are we gonna find him?" the little feline continued quickly, before the girl could get started again. "Do you know where to look for him?"

Kari frowned. "No," she confessed, then turned to look at Patamon.

The digimon shook his head sadly, his long ears still laying limp upon the floor. "I'm sorry, Kari. He didn't tell me where. He didn't need me to take him, so I guess it can't be too far away."

"Or the demon's got another way to take him," the girl said with a frown. "What I wouldn't give to know what was in that letter. And whether this whole thing was his idea or the demon's. I just can't imagine what would be so desperate for both of them to join together." Kari seemed to ponder this last thought for a moment, then started to stroke the talisman around her neck with her fingers.

"Kari?"

The girl waited a moment, then forced onto her lips a smile that she did not feel. "I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. I can follow him... I think. If the Crest of Light will help me. It always knows where the Crest of Hope is, after all." 

************

Though it was a cool evening, a sweat of heavy exertion pooled on T.K.'s head after an arduous trek up the steep mountainside. The demon had led him to this place in silence, the dark creature flitting about the treetops over the boy's head and flickering into and out of sight every few seconds or so. It could have, it now said, had T.K. at their destination within seconds if the boy would just allow it.

"I'd rather walk," the boy replied coldly to the other's suggestion, stopping for a moment and scowling over his shoulder at it. The look in the child's eyes was unnerving to the creature, and was almost deadly with disdain and a raw, seething fury. "There's no use in pretending that we're friends, demon. You're using me and I'm using you to get something that we both need to have. I want no help from you unless I would fail without it." 

The creature did not seem outwardly offended by the boy's inhospitable manner, though he did seem a bit unnerved that his interim partner refused to even take notice of the fact that he had a name. During the day and a half that they had known each other, he had refused to call him anything but 'demon'. Almost as if he did not even want to honor his existence as a sentient being.

It was a long, difficult hike until T.K. finally reached the point that the demon had led him to. Bitterly cold as well, he noticed. It was also, though the boy did not know it, the very same peak atop which Myotismon and Roan had first spoken some years ago and produced the idea for the crystalline Fiends of Terror, Brutality and Hatred. One of the only areas in this section of the world where the lining between worlds was weak enough for a minor demon to tear it and allow a journey beyond one's own plane.

T.K. nodded and took off his backpack, fishing out a bottle of water and taking a long drink as the demon peeked over his shoulder. It frowned. "No weapon but the Sword of Ages, then?"

The boy bowed his head at the question, and his eyes fell upon the Crest of Hope. The little relic warmed a gentle reassurance against his chest, calming his nerves when he would have lashed out at the demon for being so close at his side. "I'm through with weapons. God willing, your brother will yield and take an oath to never trouble Kari again when I confront him with Michael's blade in my hands. If he will swear upon it as you have, I will send him scurrying back to the dark without fighting for even an instant. Then there will be no more fighting for me, not ever again."

The demon frowned and said nothing in response. This was not turning out for the best. He had hoped (though honestly not expected) that after a time that this human _Exemplar_ might eventually come to trust him and begin to let his guard down. That if he behaved in what the humans described as a 'friendly manner', then perhaps his new partner would trust him, if just for a little bit.

In this venture, his timing would need to be almost split-second to both save his life and to fulfill for himself the plan that his Brother had set into motion. The note that this child had left the girl, the one that pleaded with her to trust him and to stay safely at home he had already seen to, stealing and destroying it not an hour after the boy had departed upon his winged stallion. He had sworn to do the girl no harm while he was cooperating with the boy; stealing the letter that he had left hardly qualified as 'harm'.

He knew, after speaking with others of his kind who had watched the human female, that she would follow the Paragon to battle. The note might have convinced her to stay away, and of course he had no intention of allowing that to happen. For while his life depending on keeping his Brother's hands off of her, it would make things all the more convenient for him if she were close at hand when this fight was finished so that he could take her for himself.

"This is hardly what I had been expecting, human. It had been my understanding that you and the _Exemplar_ were always eager to bring battle against those you deem evil."

T.K. stopped drinking, screwed the lid back on the water bottle and placed it back in his pack. With a thoughtful, distant look in his eyes, the boy turned to stare at the distant lights of the city, now just visible against the orangish sunset. "I've been fighting for very nearly half of my life. Seven long years I've fought, and I've come to hate every second of it. If I could wake up tomorrow and be told that I would never have to fight again, I'd be the happiest person on the earth."

The other, despite the absence of a face, managed to look puzzled. "Then why? There are none that can harm you. You, in fact, could already have been free of this world and all of those earthly troubles some years ago, safe in paradise. The purpose of your return was _not _to fight against us?"

T.K. almost had to tear his gaze away from the beauty of the sunset. _Just once more, _he promised himself, the voice in his head sounding sad even to himself. _Once more, I swear, then never again._ "You wouldn't understand, even if I tried to explain it to you, and it's getting cold up here. Where is this Brother you've told me of? The one who threatens Kari's life and yours? Take me there so that I may put an end to all of this."

The demon turned his back on the enigmatic human in silence, weaving together enough of his dark power to split the air and open the doorway between worlds. Now here was something he simply did not understand. This was a truly blessed soul, yet one which had declined his reward and _chosen _to return to this miserable pit of mortals. One who was willing to suffer through dark times but who shied away from greater battles on his Master's behalf. Why...? The female child couldn't possibly mean that much to him... could she?

And then, with the piercing sound of a great cloth being ripped in two, the air in front of the warriors seemed to separate. Where the dim light of dusk was still on the horizon here, beyond the space where the air had been split there was nothing but darkness. Black, suffocating darkness, stretching out before T.K. like the entrance to a labyrinth whose exit he could not see. The boy frowned. "In there?"

The other nodded, as if he understood the point of the other's question. "You are afraid. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Mortal eyes were never supposed to see this place, and none who have entered here with their eyes open have come out the other side unchanged. Close your eyes against what you will see here, and I will guide you through."

T.K. turned his eyes to scowl at the creature. "There is nothing in there that I haven't seen before, demon. Your kin tried with everything at their disposal to cow me when we fought those two years ago, but this," here he held up the dimly glowing Crest of Hope, "is proof against whatever horrors are there."

Despite the two being allied, for a time at least, the creature wanted desperately to believe that the human _Exemplar_ would indeed be affected by the aberrant spirits that resided in that place between worlds. His demonic pride almost demanded it. Yet somehow, distressingly, he could not bring himself to doubt the other's word. "Very well then," he said, and led the way into the darkness with T.K. close at his back.

*********** 

Eloan rubbed his sore rump as his slid off the back of the four-legged Saurian creature, staring daggers at the back of its dark-haired rider as he did so. Despite the fact that he and his partner had done nothing at all to suggest that they were not who they had claimed to be, he would still feel better in confirming the fact that the King Jeron was in fact here and consulting with his mother. _Asking _permission to cross her land, as the boy had repeatedly reminded the pair.

"Now, scamp, hurry back to your mother," the first rider said, glancing down at him. "And tell her to thrash you for not having learned better manners to display in front of your elders. The son of divine T'Kai certainly should have learned such respect by your age." And with a haughty laugh, the larger _a'ladon _pulled on the reins of his mount and led his partner away.

"Only when those elders are _worthy _of respect," Eloan murmured under his breath as he stared after the two, an unexpected feeling of insolence rising in his chest. His eyes narrowed. Riding behind a Northerner on top of a Saurian. He'd never get the smell out.

Eloan straightened his back as he turned away from the pair and hurried his way through the tall grasses of the Valley on the way to his mother's house. Along the way, he saw a great many of the orphaned children who now called this land home engaged in recreational activities of one sort or another. A conservative estimate of their numbers now had not less than two hundred or so young people living there in the shadow of Mount Cypress. At the very first, some five years ago, Eloan remembered that it had only been six or seven. But as word had gotten around and _a'ladon _from around the land continued to vanish, the numbers had steadily grown.

"Eloan!" called a light, merry voice from somewhere off on his left. "Come and join us! We need one more for our game!"

The boy gave a silent, inward groan, recognizing Delia's voice. She was an energetic, charming little female his own age who had come to them just over a year ago, her little brother in tow. Like the others, his mother Kiara had put them up in the valley with no questions asked and with the same instructions that she gave everyone: 'While here you will obey my rules, and when the harvest time comes you will be asked to help.' It was all that she ever asked of anyone who stayed.

Eloan returned a friendly wave, as if he did not understand the girl's shouted invitation. It wasn't that he didn't _like _Delia, of course. It was just that she was so... so...

_So what? _a little voice in the boy's head demanded.

_Shut up, _Eloan replied after a moment, turning his head and quickening his pace along the path. Even if he'd wanted to stay and play with Delia and the others, he had a task to accomplish.

Just as he scurried around the final bend on the way to his house, Eloan heard a high-pitched voice echo to his ears from up ahead. "No, no, no Jeron! Absolutely not!" it exclaimed, and the young _a'ladon_ winced. Oh boy. He was late getting home, he smelled strongly of Saurian, and his mother was upset.

Kiara's house was the largest in the valley, of course, for it was here that she welcomed all visitors as well as wandering children looking for a place to stay. And it was where the residents of the Valley, how ever many hundred they numbered now, came to celebrate all holidays and the like. Like many of the houses, it was build around one of the solid oak trees that grew in the Valley, encompassing the tree so that the trunk grew up through the house and covered the ceiling with its canopy of leaves. In keeping with nature, his mother had explained to him.

A pair of soldiers like the two that had taken him home stood at attention at the front door, telling the boy that the King was indeed in attendance at his home. Eloan stifled a curse under his breath. That meant that his mother would be meeting with him in the front hall of the house, just where they would see a tardy boy who might open the front door and walk on in. The young creature folded his paws over his chest as he thought the matter over. How did Ailora always get in...?

"How 'bout the window?" a mild, seemingly uninterested voice suggested from the branches of a nearby tree. Eloan turned at once, his eyes scanning through the thick foliage to make out the speaker. The voice seemed somewhat familiar, but...

And then with a great shower of leaves, a young _a'ladon _boy dropped from the middle of the tree's canopy and landed gracefully at Eloan's side.

Eloan grunted noncommittally, raising one eyebrow in response. "You're mistaking me for my sister again, Shay."

The other made a great show of brushing off his silvery pelt, displaying a great deal of panache even in this little bit of grooming. He flashed his dazzling smile at Eloan, then replied with a flamboyant and superior accent that was more in line with his character, "Hardly."

Shay was about the same height as Eloan, and both were considered quite tall for their age. But height and age were perhaps the only two things that the pair had in common. For Shay was everything that Eloan was not... actually more like Ailora than her own twin brother was. He was brash. He was noisy, and very proud. Eloan knew that he was not one of the orphaned children who lived in the valley, but nevertheless he often came to visit. Sometimes for as long as a week, and usually to see Ailora.

The twins had often thought that Shay was probably a member of the gentry, or perhaps even the nobility from Kelmuir, a good-sized town about a day's travel from the Valley, because the manners that he displayed around any adults that he met were very polished. It was only around the twins and the other children of the valley that he allowed his true self to be seen. This duplicity had at first annoyed Eloan to no end, but after a while he had begun to see that Shay's ostentatious behavior was mostly harmless.

But Shay would never talk about where he was from, even under direct questioning from Kiara. Somehow (and Eloan swore to himself that he would make the other boy tell him how) he always managed to deflect those type of questions in the most charming and harmless way possible, leaving his mother completely satisfied. It was nothing short of astonishing.

"How long ago did Ailora get back?" Eloan asked with a quick glance at the other, knowing he would have been watching.

"'bout a half hour. Right before the pompous jerk and his toadies got here," Shay answered, jerking a thumb at the two watchmen outside. The boy's brown eyes fell on the tear in the corner of Eloan's long cloak. "What happened? Come out on the short end of a fight with a tree again?"

Eloan felt his ears grow warm. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Huh. You usually don't. 'nother daydream about Takeru and Hikari?"

"They are _not _daydreams!" Eloan insisted hotly. "They're visions! Important ones."

The other boy shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess. Did your 'visions' happen to give you any ideas about how you're supposed to get inside without your mother catching you and pulling your fur out one hair at a time? She hates it when you're late, you know."

"You don't have to remind me," Eloan replied sourly, glancing up at the branches of the tree that Shay had been sitting in and recalling his suggestion. A few of them _did _grow quite close to the limbs which extended from his own house's windows, and...

Shay noticed where the other boy was looking, then grinned. "Oh, this should be good," he said, biting back a chuckle. "Any last words you want me to pass on to your family?"

Eloan sighed. He supposed that if he was entirely sensible, as most people gave him credit for, he'd just walk right in the front door and accept whatever punishment his mother chose to mete out. After all he wasn't _that _late, and he could always explain what had happened in the forest to make him so, but something inside the boy refused to accept what he knew to be right. He would _not _be humiliated in front of Jeron. "Yeah. Tell 'em I never would have tried it if it weren't for a certain silver-haired troublemaker of their own acquaintance."

"Oh, no," Shay said, holding up his paws defensively. "I just was kidding. I clear myself of responsibility for this whole thing."

Eloan brushed his paws off on the corner of his cloak. "Too late for dodging the blame now," he replied shortly, then hopped over to the thick trunk of the tree and latched onto it with both claws. How he wished he had gotten even just a little bit of his sister's agility!

Shay watched with a poorly disguised, highly amused look in his brown eyes at Eloan's climbing technique. Whereas most _a'ladon _who were adapt at climbing would simply have gone claw-over-claw and scrambled up the side, the red-haired boy was embracing the tree with both arms and knees and was slowly inching his way upwards. Adding to the silliness of the scene was the fact that Eloan's harp, still dangling from his shoulder, every so often managed to snag one of the smaller branches and resounded with a deep _thrum_, one which Shay thought sounded suspiciously like a death knell.

But eventually and despite his clumsiness, Eloan did manage to reach one of the longer branches near the middle of the tree whose tip came close to the branches of the tree inside his own house. After flashing a triumphant grin down at the evidently astonished Shay, Eloan latched on tightly to the branch with all four claws and crept slowly along it.

Shay had, at least, the courtesy to give a friendly wave to Eloan as the red-haired boy vanished into the window of his house. Considering the boy's astonishingly poor balance for an _a'ladon, _that had actually been quite impressive...

Eloan crept cautiously down the stairs which led from the second level of the house to the first. Already he could hear his mother's voice echoing from the front hall. A few of her words were gentle, coaxing... most of them were not. Apparently what he had gleaned from the words of the king's patrol in the forest had been correct. From the sound of things, King Jeron himself was wanting to enter the lair of the demon Da'saan in Mount Cypress.

When the boy reached the bottom of the stairs, he caught sight of Ailora standing stiffly across the hallway from two more of the King's troupe. At the far end of the hall where the chairs had been placed, he could see (and thanks to his mother's shrill voice, hear) the two adults in their heated discussion.

Eloan crept over to his twin's side, then stood next to her at attention as if he had been there all along. "She notice I wasn't here?" the boy murmured hopefully out of the side of his mouth.

"Don't know," Ailora murmured back, keeping her eyes on her mother and Jeron as she responded. "How'd you get in?"

The boy gave a brief gesture with his head. "Window."

The girl's eyes opened in a gesture of surprise, and she turned her head away from the adults' conversation to stare at her twin. "And you're still alive? Amazing..."

Eloan frowned. "You're as bad as Shay, you know that? I admit I may not be as nimble as either of you, but I'm not the lumbering clod you make me out to be either."

Ailora ignored that. "Shay's here?"

Eloan stifled a grin, try to stay as serious as possible while in view of the pair of the king's guardsmen. "You care? I thought you were still mad at him."

The girl quickly covered up her astonishment so as to make it clear to her brother that she did not, in fact, care that the silver-haired teen was waiting outside. "I _am _still mad at him, Eloan," she said in her most annoyingly superior, sisterly voice. "No one says the things that he said about the Lord Takeru and goes unpunished. He'll get what's coming to him... sooner or later."

"You know he just does that to make you angry."

Ailora's eyes narrowed fiercely. "That's no excuse for blasphemy!" she snapped.

The boy would have responded, but at that moment the heated conversation at the far end of the room drew his attention. Falling silent, he focused on his mother and her conversation with the king. "Jeron, listen," Kiara said, clearly trying to contain her impatience. "Nothing good can come of you going into that mountain. There's nothing there but a bunch of poisonous gases and black rocks."

"And the blade of your husband's sword," the other corrected. "And whatever is left of the demon."

Kiara gave a soft sigh, and Eloan knew by the sound that she was already quite frustrated. Oh, pray she hadn't noticed his absence... "And which of those are you willing to risk your life to behold, Jeron?"

Eloan blinked that his mother had the audacity to address the king by his given name. But then, the other didn't really seem to mind that much. After all, the boy supposed, Kiara was a very important person among the _a'ladon_... almost as much for what she had done as what her husband had. Almost.

Eloan couldn't see the king's face, but from his body position he got the distinct impression that the other responded with a gentle smile at these words. "Kiara, it was T'Kai's sacrifice that united our people and recreated the monarchy. It was, in great part, because I was the one who had sent him into that battle that the crown fell to me. You've had your chance to say goodbye to him... I never did."

Kiara shook her head. "You'd be better served to do that here, Jeron. Nothing of him was left in there. His body was brought back here, to this very spot, by Our Lord Takeru. In fact it is the ashes of his body that give this place its name, as you well know. It was the tears that I wept for him that do the same. If you want to honor him, honor him by stopping whatever it is that is making orphans out of the children who have come to live here. A pilgrimage... what good will that accomplish?"

"You're straying from the subject, Kiara," the king chided, clearly loathe to discuss the other matter as he held up a paw to silence the woman where she would have interrupted. "Don't force me to make this a royal command. You have the authority to stop all others from entering that place, but this is one time when the request of your king must supersede even that duty that Father Cheyne passed to you."

Kiara (looking suddenly very tired and worn to Eloan's eyes) shook her head slowly and sighed. "Very well Jeron. I've done my best to dissuade you. My conscience is clear. But please be careful."

The other nodded. "Of course, Kiara. Though I go to pay homage to T'Kai's spirit, I assure you that I have no intention of becoming one myself."

And then the king (in all honesty a rather short, unassuming _a'ladon_)took Kiara by the paw and led her down the hall to where his guardsmen were waiting. Both men bowed at his approach. But as the adults drew nearer still, he stopped and looked attentively at the twins. "Kiara?" he asked, turning his head to the side.

"Majesty," she said, switching to a more formal manner of address in public, "these are my children and T'Kai's. This is Ailora and this, Eloan."

"How the years pass," the king said, his voice sounding surprised as he again peered closely at the two. "It seems like only yesterday that your father was this age. You both favor him greatly."

A seemingly awkward moment passed without a word or action from anyone before Kiara affixed the pair with her light-brown eyes. "Children, your manners," the woman murmured.

Ailora gave a charming smile and dropped a graceful curtsy in front of the monarch, bowing her head. Eloan stopped himself from snorting at this. Much like Shay, Ailora around adults and Ailora around those her own age were two very different individuals indeed. The girl sounded almost shy as she said quietly, "I'm honored, Majesty. My mother has told you much of you."

There was a glimmer of... something... in the king's eyes as he listened to the girl. "Alas, though, she has failed to tell _me _a great deal about _you_," he replied smoothly, and Eloan consciously held back a frown as he thought he heard something behind the words that did not entirely agree with him. Ailora herself, however, and Kiara did not seem to notice, and after a moment spent lingering on the girl the gaze of the king fell upon her brother.

The eyes of the two locked, and for an almost unnoticed moment there was the spark of conflict in that stare. Eloan, like his mother, felt that the man before him should have been doing more (well, really anything) to stop the unexplained disappearances of _a'ladon _in this part of the world. The boy also wondered if the king had ever considered what he had determined once or twice in his life: that under all of the laws of the _a'ladon _that had ever been written, Eloan himself was the one who should have been king. _He _was the one who was descended in a direct line from King T'Kay so long ago. It was _his _father who had died to deliver the land from evil. Jeron, while not strictly a usurper, was hardly entitled to the crown that he wore.

And also... there was just something about the other that Eloan did not like. He couldn't say what it was, but something about the man just rubbed his fur the wrong way. The almost imperceptible lechery that he had heard when the elder creature had spoken to his sister hadn't helped matters much.

_"Eloan..."_ Kiara murmured.

The boy caught the hint of a promised thrashing in his mother's voice and forced himself to bow, though he kept his eyes locked on the other's at all times. Hopefully his was misjudging the monarch, but...

"Eloan!" his mother snapped, noticing with a maternal attentiveness the exceedingly uncharacteristic disrespect and defiance reflected in the eyes of her son.

But Jeron seemed to shrug it off, not seeming offended in the least, though he also had to have noticed the eyes of the boy. "No matter, Kiara, I have a son that very age myself. Believe me, I know what a pawful that they can be."

And then the king turned his back on the pair as Kiara continued to stare daggers at her son. The monarch motioned for the two guards to join him, and together the three left by the front door.

"Ailora!" Kiara said, not once taking her narrowed brown eyes off of the boy. "Bring me a switch!" 

******** 

It was much, much later that night when another unusual visitor, one with even a greater name among the _a'ladon _than the first, journeyed down from the mountains and into the Valley of Ash and Tears. But unlike the first two times that he had visited that land, this time the visitor did not need to wonder why he was there or for what purpose he had come. This time his eyes were set straight ahead to their destination, seeing through to a purpose that only he could see. He had thought this particular crisis had been dealt with some years ago. Evidently he had thought wrong.

But this time he would see it through to the end. This time he would leave no doubt. This time... Kari _would _be free of danger. _Once and for all._

Somehow, T.K. was not surprised to find that he was back in the land of the _a'ladon_, though he now knew that there were at least a hundred worlds on which this Demon could have gone to arrange his dark wedding. T'Kai had given his life to seal the body that the groom was to inhabit. Now, somehow... that seal had been broken.

"I confess that I do not know, _Exemplar_," the unnoticed demon at the boy's back whispered into his ear. "It is quite true that he could not truly be wed in this world without a native, physical body to inhabit. But such a possession would leave him quite weak and certainly not ready for the conquest which he has planned. Seizing and maintaining control of one who is unwilling is extraordinarily difficult, you see."

T.K. did not even look back. "That's what I've said, demon. You yourself said 'unwilling'. The body that he seeks to inhabit will not be one that is averse to being taken."

The other hesitated. "A _willing _slave...? I cannot recall that such an occurrence has ever come about in my lifetime."

T.K. pushed through a thick overgrowth of bushes in his way, steadying himself as he felt some loose gravel on the path start to give way beneath his feet. They were almost out of the foothills and into the valley now. "It will have now, demon. I doubt seriously if your Brother will be caught unaware of great opposition to his undertaking, and no ordinary, mortal body would suffice for him to survive it. If the place he is bearing towards is indeed Mount Cypress, then he must be looking to resurrect Dassan's body. Nothing else is there."

The boy heard an ugly noise at his back, not unlike a pig's grunting, as the demon stopped to sniff the air. "There are mortals near," he hissed, an undisguised revulsion in his voice. He paused for a moment. "But had you not said that your ally, the other _Exemplar_, had already sealed that body away?"

T.K. nodded. "And very nearly destroyed the soul inhabiting it. Which makes it, I think, all the more likely that your Brother will go there. Dassan's body is enormous... powerful, and though T'Kai wounded and imprisoned it, we could not destroy it. Whatever spark of that monster's soul remains behind in his body will no doubt welcome the strength of your Brother's spirit to help free him. It would seem to benefit them both greatly."

"But first they would have to have a mortal -- a mortal acting of his own accord, no less -- to remove the barrier to the body," the demon pointed out once again. Really the only part of the puzzle that T.K. had not deciphered yet. "The broken blade of the last _Exemplar_ of this world, yes?"

Now, after almost an entire day of walking, T.K. finally stepped foot into the small, yet somehow sprawling village. "Begone," he commanded the dark creature at his back, not wanting to rehash T'Kai's sacrifice for the demon once again. He simply didn't have the emotional strength to remember that battle right now. "I'm going to stop here to see if anyone will agree to help me... us. I don't want you to scare them."

The other made a sound that might have been a growl, but soon realized the wisdom of what the human had said. His presence, if it could not cow an _Exemplar_, would doubtless throw the villagers below into an unholy terror. "Very well. I will remain hidden until you call. But do not tarry long here... remember, the life of your bride-to-be depends upon all haste."

"Away with you!" the boy snapped in response, wheeling angrily on the creature only to find that it had already flown away. But then, while the other's words were hateful to him, he did take them to heart while quickening his pace. 

***********

Eloan sat in bed glumly, rubbing his tender backside with one paw. All in all, it hadn't really been _that _bad, he supposed. His mother's heart clearly had not been in the thrashing that she had given him, and evidently she had not been aware that he had been late and away from home well after she had rung the chimes. Jeron's visit had been good for distracting her, if for nothing else.

Also, he had a suspicion that she had gone easier on him because she agreed with him... at least somewhat. Not with the outward showing of disrespect, certainly, but at least the reasons behind it. She didn't trust Jeron either.

And then, as the boy sat and continued to try and numb his pain, there came a faint glow... a golden curtain of divine light... from the corner of his room. And as the vivid cloud started to coalesce right before the boy's eyes he leapt excitedly to his feet, the pain in his backside forgotten. His father had come to him again.

Eloan stepped forward, gingerly stretching one paw towards the light and consciously forcing his eyes to stay open against the now brilliant, almost blinding glare. "Oh, Father..." he murmured.

A brief moment passed. A silent, solemn moment in which the corporeal boy and his ghostly father faced one another, standing together as equals as the divine champion T'Kai desired. Then... _"Hello, Son."_

The young _a'ladon _smiled. T'Kai's wise, steady voice never failed to calm the boy even at the worst of times. "Father... I'm so glad you're here."

_"Eloan, my Son." _And now, as his eyes slowly became acclimated to it, Eloan could actually see through the golden halo of light to the tall, noble figure of his father. Holy T'Kai... the heroic martyr of the _a'ladon_. In the paw of the elder creature was the shattered stump and hilt of his great sword, and upon his chest he wore a fine suit of light, silvery plates... the Armor of Paragon. _"Eloan... Son. It is time for you to grow up... to leave behind the ways of your childhood and seize the heritage which you have been born to."_

The boy looked confused for a moment and was about to question the reason for such a charge... but then shortly bowed his head in embarrassment, realizing that his father must have been referring to his behavior from earlier that day. Such uncharacteristic distrust and disrespect as he had shown towards the king and his men was almost certain to draw him a strict and deserved reprimand. "I'm sorry, Father."

But then, unexpectedly to the boy, the figure of T'Kai answered him with a smile. _"Do not apologize for what you have thought of them, son, unless you now feel as though you were in error. You do not feel that you were, and so I expect you to rely upon your judgment in these matters. Actually allowing your dislike of them to be seen, however, is an entirely different affair... one with which your mother has already dealt, I suspect."_

Much of Eloan's shame fell from him as he nodded an affirmation to his father.

__

"Then that matter has been resolved. But tonight I have come to you for another reason, son. Tonight I do not come as a correcting father, but as a messenger."

"Listen closely and mark my words Eloan, for evil, once banished from this land, has come upon us again. And this evil is not one to be satisfied with half-measures and minor schemings, but comes with all of the strength and power that our Enemy can muster at his back. It is a Power greater than any who have ever walked upon the mortal plane, and he comes to fulfill a plan which will make him deadlier yet."

"An evil? But... but father. I thought that you had already defeated the evil."

T'Kai's face... a wise, holy face... shown with a solemn smile. _"I did, son. But not yet the final victory. That cannot be won until the End Times, and that victory will belong to one who is no mortal. And until the Victory, we mortals must fight with all that we are to save those whom the great Evil would corrupt and destroy. That is the great duty of the Paragon..."_

Eloan's face fell once again at those words, his ears burning with humility at his realization of what the other was saying. All of his life he had strived to be like T'Kai. To be the standard of goodness for the _a'ladon _as he had been. But now, just as it appeared that the charge would be laid upon him, he understood that he was not ready. He was almost on the verge of tears as he said, "Father... I'm sorry. I am no Paragon. I'm not even a warrior. Ailora says I'm not even very good at _pretending _to be a warrior."

_"Listen to what your sister means, son, and not what she says. She loves you greatly, and believes in you more than you may think. But to say that you are no warrior, Eloan? That is indeed distressing. Do you not know the meaning of honor?"_

Eloan blinked. "Honor, father? I... I suppose that I do."

_"And of faith?"_

"Y... yes."

_"Of compassion, duty, and devotion?"_

"Of course, father, but I--"

_"Then you have all that any Paragon could want, son." _And as the figure of T'Kai spoke, Eloan realized that he had should have known the point that his father was trying to make._ "Eloan, the strength of our calling is not in skill at arms. Anyone, for good or evil and with enough practice can learn to wield a sword with skill. But what makes a great warrior in the army of the One is not the strength of his body, but is instead the greatness of his soul. For any mortal body, no matter how strong, can be slain. But if the Spirit is alive within you then you can never truly be defeated."_

Eloan blinked, what his father had said slowly sinking in to his consciousness. "I... I'd like to say that I understand, father, but I don't think I do. At least, not completely."

_"No one can, son, until you hear the words from our greatest. It is enough that you have listened... and that you have spoken truly of yourself."_

The boy bowed his head in response as a young solider who would honor his captain. "Then I will do as you have said, father. How am I to know the evil when it comes?"

The great figure of the holy Paragon nodded in satisfaction and a fatherly pride at his son's assent to his task. Then he spoke. _"Tonight, son, by chance and not by design, my house shall receive a guest. A great soul, even by the standards of the Paragon. Go with him. Aid him. And when you stand with him together as servants of the One, evil will turn tail and flee at the sight of you."_

And then the spirit of the great Paragon of the _a'ladon _smiled and cast the hilt of his shattered sword at the feet of his son. Eloan blinked once at the solid, metallic sound that it made as it landed, then knelt on the ground and picked it up. "Father? It... it's real."

_"As real as my love for you, Eloan. I must go now to visit my wife and daughter in their dreams, for it is only there that they will see me. Remember to watch for he who comes in the name of the One, and remember always that even the least bit of hope can bring healing to all who are not whole..."_

************

Kiara stirred vaguely within her deep sleep as the sound of a hollow, wooden knocking echoed through the walls of her house. Stirred, but still did not waken as she clung desperately to the dream that had come upon her. T'Kai. She dreamed of T'Kai, the husband whom she had met, loved, mated with and lost all in the span of three days in her youth. And that had been the cruelest mark of the whole affair. They had been destined to be together since birth, had known of each other's presence in the world for their entire lives... and in the end, had been only given three short days.

In the years after his death, Kiara had been certain that she did not have the strength to go on living without him. A great part of her own self had died that day with T'Kai, and only the promise of Father Cheyne that they would one day be together again and the great responsibility of raising the twins had kept her from dying of a broken heart. Many scoffed at her, saying that such a thing was not possible. Kiara assured them that it was.

_No... _Kiara's thoughts echoed into the darkness as she tried to clutch hold of the fading dream while the hollow sound of knocking tried to drag her back to reality. _No, T'Kai... Please, please don't leave me again. I need you. I can't do this without you anymore, dearest. It's just too much for me. Please... I need your strength..._

And then the dream's final promise, the one that it always gave, pierced through the darkness like a warm, soothing balm upon her soul. _My strength you have, love. Persevere, dearest, and complete the journey that has been marked for you. And I will be there at the last to lead you to where you belong._

Kiara sat up in bed, the sheet falling from chest as the knocking continued at her door. The woman blinked and rubbed the sleep from her brown eyes as she turned wearily to the window. It was still a good five hours before dawn. "Who could that be at this time of night?" the woman murmured weakly, her heart aching at not being able to stay longer with T'Kai. She could feel the tears wet against the soft fur on her face... how she missed him.

But still she drew a paw across her eyes to wipe away the wetness and bit back the others that would take their place, grabbed the robe that dangled from the corner of her bed and forced herself from bed. At this time of night, it was all the more likely that more orphaned children had made their way to the valley seeking shelter after losing their parents to the unseen, anonymous abductor who had come upon their land.

The woman sighed. "Very well, very well," she murmured, stumbling sleepily through the hallways of her home, her feet knowing each bump and crack along the floor by touch.

The door squeaked as it swung slowly outward on its hinges, Kiara pushing it open and peering out into the night in anticipation of seeing one or two... or perhaps three dirty little _a'ladon _faces peering back at her. Instead...

Ailora and Eloan, both in their nightclothes, dashed from their respective bedrooms and converged in the hallway as they heard their mother's shrill, wordless shout. The eyes of the twins met for a moment as they passed, communication passing wordlessly between the two as they dashed down the wooden stairs to their mother's side. The thoughts of both children were of the missing adults, and both feared that whatever the abducting force was, it had finally come to the valley.

Ailora was the first down the stairway, the nimble girl covering the last seven steps with a great leap and landing on all fours at the foot of the stairs. Eloan followed her as quickly as he could, seeing his mother caught in the evidently smothering embrace of some tall, bare-skinned creature just inside the doorway.

And then the newcomer released Kiara, the two separating. "Eloan!" Ailora shouted over her shoulder. "Get mom!"

The boy barely heard the words as he snatched his mother away from the creature, rolling her quickly out of harm's way as Ailora struck the tall creature in the midsection with a fierce tackle, sending them both down to the wooden floor with a heavy _thud._ And then, in almost the same motion, the girl plopped down upon the creature's chest and placed all of her weight on his torso, pinning him (for they could now see that it was apparently a male creature) to the ground. Ailora clenched her fist and pulled it back, apparently ready to pummel her victim senseless when she stopped to stare down upon at the creature which she had trapped.

Kiara, the wind apparently knocked out of her by Eloan's rescue, seemed to be trying to desperately signal something to her children. But the boy was ignoring his mother at the moment and was instead watching his sister as she hesitated. "What are you waiting for, 'lora? Hit him!"

But still the girl hesitated, seemingly frozen to the spot as her trembling fist remained high in the air above her, ready to strike but never falling. Eloan, frightened for both his mother and sister, seemed ready to leave his mother's side and go to Ailora's aid when Kiara finally found her voice. "Children! Stop!" she cried with all the voice that she could muster while catching her breath, her eyes wet with tears but a joyous smile upon her face.

"Mom?" Eloan queried, looking from Kiara to Ailora and back again.

Ailora's eyes were locked on the creature beneath her, her mouth sagging open in stunned silence as she studied the perfection of his face. The great, golden mane of hair that so crowned his noble head, a few strands of which dared to fall in front of the azure perfection of his eyes. Eyes so full of wisdom and of goodness. Beneath her she could feel the powerful muscles of his chest contracting and expanding as he sought to catch his breath, and the scent rising from his mouth as he exhaled those same breaths was like an intoxicating perfume to the girl.

And then Kiara was at her daughter's side, gently touching her shoulder and ushering her off of the chest of her victim. The girl, seemingly still spellbound as she continued to gawk at the creature beneath her, could not move of her own volition... but neither did she put up any fight as her mother pulled her aside. And as his sister was moved away and the stranger rose to his feet, Eloan got his first real look at the other.

The boy _a'ladon _moved forward slowly, his blue eyes locked on the those of their guest; eyes which perfectly mirrored the color of his own. Eloan's memories flashed wildly through his brain for a moment as he recalled with a sudden and absolutely clarity the stories of his mother and father. The yellow hair atop the head... the eyes... the golden talisman dangling from his neck. But even if he had never heard those stories from his parents, he was certain that he would know this one to be Paragon.

He swallowed deeply. "Lord... Takeru?"

T.K. stepped forward into silence, almost as stunned as Eloan as a flood of painful memories, once buried within his soul, rushed to the surface. T'Kai. _T'Kai. _But then also, not T'Kai. The hands were a little less delicate than the other boy's had been, the feet a bit larger and the tail somewhat bushier. But the eyes... oh, the eyes. It was T'Kai... and Mylam... all over again.

And then the human found his tongue as well. "Eloan?" he asked, his hand reaching gently forward for the other.

"_Lord _Takeru," the _a'ladon_ repeated, this time the tenor of his voice more fervent and shrouded in deference and respect. The stories that his parents had told... they did not do him justice. They had called him a child, and perhaps he still was... but there was a righteousness about him, surrounding him like a second skin, that Eloan could not deny. The same holiness that his father wore, only now standing before him as flesh and bone. Without another word he stepped forward and sank to one knee, pressing his forehead against the human's hand, showing respect here even where he did not show it to his own king.

And then Ailora was at his side, seemingly having found the ability to move again. The girl fell to both knees, taking T.K.'s other hand and repeatedly pressing her face against it as tears of awe washed away the dirt from his bare wrist. But unlike Eloan, whose strong emotions were well defined as great admiration, the girl's were all a jumble. For an instant, she too felt the respect of her brother. But the next, she felt fear. Then adoration. And last of all and most frightening for her, a deep, unexpected... and almost unrestrained passion.

Many times in the past, whether to tease her or because they honestly believed it, both Eloan and Shay had both accused her of having a romantic infatuation with the Lord Takeru. At this she had scoffed. Her love for Lord Takeru was not the love of one mortal being for another, she had snapped in return. It was the love of a servant to a master. Of a mortal to an immortal. And though she had often enough wished for his return while he remained the same age as she was, it had never once occurred to her that her brother and Shay might be interpreting her feelings better than she was.

Never... until now. She tried desperately to fight it down, horrified as she felt it creep into her heart and establish itself there. _No!_ she shouted at herself as she continued to caress the other's hand lovingly. _That really _is _blasphemy! Eloan's right! He... he's not even the same species I am! I'm just a child to him! I... I..._

And now the girl released her grip on T.K.'s hand and sank back down onto her knees, her head bowed beneath the weight of a reality that she did not want to admit. At her side, Eloan had apparently gotten over himself just a bit and was now on his feet and actually speaking with Takeru. But Ailora heard none of the words. Disaster... a disaster that she could never had anticipated, had fallen upon her.

And then, as they spoke, she heard the voice of the Lord Takeru. _That voice! _She would have known it to be his even if she had not seen him. She was certain of it. And as she listened to him, she remembered the story that her mother had once told: How before departing the last time that Takeru and Hikari had spoken over her and Eloan and had blessed them both as they slept within their mother's womb.

Ailora felt a paw tight upon her shoulder. "Ailora?" Kiara murmured softly in her daughter's ear, kneeling by her side. She knew how much Tekay would disapprove of this display of reverence by her children. "Aren't you going to say hello to Lord Takeru?"

The girl's eyes snapped wide open. _Say hello?_ No, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to leap to her feet and embrace him, to stare into his eyes and to kiss him. She wanted to run and hide, to dig a hole so deep that none could ever find her. She wanted to sing, she wanted to dance, she wanted to vanished from the face of the earth. But to say 'hello'? No... that was something that she simply couldn't do.

"Come on, Ailora," her mother urged, lifting the girl to her feet and then continuing to hold her up when her legs would have buckled beneath her. "This is what you've been waiting your whole life for."

Ailora was trembling like she never had in her entire life as Kiara stood her in front of T.K. She had always, in all of her fifteen years, been the strong one. Had always been confident. Whether by luck or by skill or simply by persistent determination, nothing had ever gotten the best of her. In the children of the valley's games, her team almost always won. In an argument, her quick mind, resolve and relentlessness always assured her of the last word.

All of that strength vanished at once, like so much smoke against a wind as she stood before the one that she had idolized since birth...


	3. To Honor the Lady Hikari: The Battle of ...

T.K. sat straight across from Kiara in her great hall, his blue eyes narrowed on the girl (though not really a girl any longer, but instead a woman) as she explained all that had happened here since he, Kari and Davis had left those fifteen years ago. Fifteen years for the _a'ladon_, in any event. For despite his weariness at having traveled all day and most of the night, he simply could not bring himself to rest before learning all that had happened to her during that time.

Kiara, on the other hand, had been just as insistent about finding out what had happened to he and Kari and had been adamant that _he _be the first to tell his story. They had negotiated on this matter for a few moments, and in the end had settled on a quick game of 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide which of them would tell first. This game Kiara lost fair and square after T.K. had explained it to her... though some time afterwards the boy thought that he had caught her trying to puzzle out the concept of scissors.

And so the three _a'ladon _and one human sat and talked for several hours, listening to one another's stories and becoming better acquainted. Or rather, two _a'ladon_ and one human talked, as Ailora was sitting off to the side during the entire time and did not speak so much as a single word. Eloan, eventually, calmed down around T.K. and was able to speak with him in a rather casual manner... much as his mother was. And after a time, it became clear to the boy that his mother's portrayal of this Paragon was much more accurate than that told in the old stories. He was not stern and filled with holy rage as the bards would have said, but in fact remained as a child in many ways... if a very wise and serious child.

It had long passed dawn and was headed towards noon when T.K. could no longer stifle the tremendous yawn that he had been holding in for the past several hours. Kiara smiled affectionately at the human, then rose from her chair. "Enough of this talking. You are tired, and it is time that you must rest." And when it seemed that T.K. would have argued the point, the woman raised a paw to silence him. "No arguments, young one," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "In this house, children are expected to obey their elders. You may finish speaking with the twins while I make sleeping arraignments for you."

T.K. bit back a grin and a chuckle as the woman rose and left the room. He had known her when she was just entering adolescence but the boy supposed that, due to the disparity of time between his world and hers, she was indeed his elder now. And so as she left he turned back to the younger pair. Eloan leaned forward, eager to speak with him as long as his mother would allow, but Ailora was quickly on her feet and after her mother without speaking a single word to excuse herself.

The young human's eyes followed the girl as she left, the sad appearance of rejection on his lips. Since he'd arrived, Ailora had yet to speak a single word to him. Indeed, she had almost refused to even look at him during the entire time that the group had been talking... though he had caught her staring intently at him a couple of times when she had thought that he wasn't watching. The boy didn't know exactly what to make of it, but it saddened him greatly. "I don't think your sister likes me very much," he murmured, leaning close to Eloan.

The young _a'ladon _sputtered in response to the words, a drink that he had just taken evidently having gone down the wrong way and set him to coughing violently. After a moment or so of gasping for breath and finally managing to compose himself, the red-haired creature looked up pointedly at the other. _So much for omniscience... _he thought to himself, wondering if he himself should correct Lord Takeru's misconception. On the one paw, he knew for a fact that Ailora certainly did not dislike Takeru, of course... indeed, quite the opposite. But on the other, neither did he want to humiliate his sister (and possibly Takeru too) by correcting him too vigorously and possibly letting something slip that was probably best kept a secret.

"I would not worry about it, Lord. Ailora's probably just a little overwhelmed, and maybe embarrassed, by what happened this morning, that's all." That much was almost certainly true, and didn't seem to give too much away.

T.K. looked sideways at the other as if unsatisfied with the answer, but still shook his head and seemed to allow his concern for the matter a rest. "Well she certainly doesn't _hit _like a little girl, that's for sure," he answered sadly, his eyes on the hallway that Ailora had left through. But after a moment, he looked back to Eloan and his voice was light again. "But if we're to be friends then you and I will have to straighten something out, Eloan. Something that even your father couldn't learn until we were at the end of our travels together. My name is T.K., and just T.K. No 'Lord'. No 'Lord Takeru'. Not even Takeru. The only ones that ever call me that are my mother and Kari... rather, Lady Hikari, and then only when I'm in a _lot _of trouble."

Eloan's face lit up in a relieved smile. Dread god of righteousness, indeed! As his mother had told him years ago, there was nothing terrible or overwhelming about the creature in front of him. The boy suddenly felt more at ease talking to him than he did when speaking with almost anyone else... even those that he had known for years.

Then, inspired to take the initiative by the comfortable atmosphere in the room, it occurred to the boy that they had yet to be properly introduced. And so he rose from his seat and thrust his paw forward, much as he would have to a friend of his own species and age. "Hello then, T.K. My name is Eloan. Very pleased to meet you."

T.K. smiled at the other and accepted the paw, shaking it once.

************ 

King Jeron leaned backwards upon the blackened tree stump on which he sat, removing his thin crown and rubbing at the matted fur beneath. Gods, how he hated to wear the stupid thing. It had never fit him properly, no matter how many times he had ordered it shaped and reshaped to fit his head, and it frequently irritated him to the point of distraction. Were it not essential to constantly remind people that _he _was the one in charge, he would hardly ever even wear the thing.

Leaning back to scratch his back against the stump, the king watched as one of the enormous Saurian warriors that he had 'acquired' lumbered by. Walking upright, it was plain to see that it was one of the more intelligent and civilized varieties... though among Saurians, both 'intelligent' and 'civilized' had to be measured accordingly. The creature gave an uninterested grunt as he lumbered past the king with a veritable boulder balanced atop its shoulder, one claw on the side to steady it. Once more Jeron shook his head in admiration at the staggering strength the creatures possessed. That particular Saurian was almost six feet in height and must have weighted close to three hundred pounds... yet the boulder that he had just moved from the mountain's entrance must have weighted at least half again that much. Such strength seemed unnatural to the lithe creature.

And then the king glanced briefly over to the far side of his makeshift camp to where the other lizard-like creatures were enjoying a noisy feast. Just what they were eating, he had little real desire to learn. The less intelligent cousins to this creature and his ilk, these creatures walked on all fours and were serving as mounts for he and his entourage. At first it had been a tedious chore to learn to control the beasts, but they had turned out to certainly be worth the effort.

Of course, such a gift on his counterpart's behalf had necessitated a comparable act on his part, thus the reason for-- 

"Pardon me... Your Majesty?" 

Jeron looked up as Kueren, the sergeant who was in charge of the elite troops that the king had brought with him on this trip, snapped to attention. The aged soldier looked terribly uncomfortable, for some reason. "Yes, my old friend, you are pardoned. What is it now?"

Kueren cleared his throat once, his voice deep and earthy. "Your Majesty!" the creature replied smartly. "It is the... sisters." And then, as if having his military concentration broken by his brief stumble over the word, Kueren lost a great deal of his procedural formality and allowed his lips to curl into a vague grimace. "They have requested that you attend them."

Jeron leaned back on his stump, frowning at the other's uneasiness. "Not quite so politely, I'd wager," he answered, studying the old soldier before him. And he watched the other standing there and shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, he realized what was bothering the man.

"Gods, Kueren!" he snapped, irritated after a moment of awkward silence. "Are you a child to be frightened so by those two? You look much as my son did when he was but a babe and his dear, departed mother first told him the tale of the Great Saurian under his bed who eats naughty little _a'ladon_!" 

The sergeant touched his forehead with the first to fingers of his paw then quickly pulled them away: the sign made by the superstitious to ward off evil spirits. Jeron's frown deepened as Kueren's deep voice responded not with laughter, but with a warning. "There is something unnatural about those two, Majesty. Something has changed about them during the past season. Before they were harmless. Peculiar and reclusive, yes, but harmless. But lately, my men have been seeing and hearing strange things from them... and even Your Majesty cannot deny that there is a much different feeling about them than before." 

"Pah!" the king spat at the other. "What? The witchcraft? Oh don't look so surprised, Kueren, of course I know about it. I'm not half so stupid as my subjects would seem to think, and one can only ignore so many dead toads dangling from the beltlines of his advisors before he becomes suspicious about such things. Forbidden under all of our laws, of course, but as long as their advice remains good something I'm willing to tolerate."

The taller creature continued to look disturbed, so Jeron continued. This time his voice was more coaxing... wheedling. Despite the authority that he held as a king, more often than not it came down to such a tone. He was far better at using it than he was at using royal commands, after all. "Kueren... my old friend. Listen to me. You and I have known Aine and Moya since they were both babes in their cribs, have we not? And all of that time we have both recognized that there was _something _unusual about them." 

The king rose without awaiting a response (better to have the last word) and placed an arm about the furry shoulders of the soldier, walking him back towards the rest of the camp. The casualness of the gesture seemed to disturb the sergeant mightily, but he said nothing. He was much used to the old ways, where no authority figure would ever make such a display around his army. Such things weakened Jeron's already fragile authority to the rest of the men, authority that the king would have lost long ago if it were not for Kueren's brutal efficiency.

Jeron smiled as he switched the subject, speaking to the soldier not as a king, but as a friend. These Saurians, he said, brutes though they were, certainly knew their business and should have the entrance to the cave opened up in a matter of hours. And then, inside. To find... 

He fell silent. Well, the truth be told, Jeron wasn't certain just what he would find there. Clear contrary to what he had told Kiara, he had very little idea why he was even here. He had no wish to go and pay homage to the memory of T'Kai... he hadn't even _liked _the little troublemaker. The truth was that he had sent T'Kai on this mission for the very purpose of seeing him dead and thus preventing the child from one day overthrowing the bureaucracy and reinstating the monarchy. The fact that his 'heroic' death had led to Jeron himself being installed as king was what Aine called, "One of life's little ironies." 

The _a'ladon _soldiers all snapped to attention as their sergeant and king walked by. Despite having spent weeks on the trail getting to the far south of the land, each man looked well groomed and ready for action at a moment's notice. Their weapons and armor were all well oiled and polished, and not a single black fur stood out of place on their bodies. It pleased Jeron greatly. 

And then the pair reached the small tent that had been set up in the far corner of the camp, the one where Aine and her sister Moya (advisors to His Majesty) dwelt when accompanying him on a journey. Jeron made a motion for Kueren to wait for him outside. He and his men were already nervous enough around the sisters, and what the other would see inside would no doubt make them doubly so. But, as the king had told his sergeant, as long as their advice remained sound he was willing to overlook a few minor indiscretions on their part. Not to mention the fact that the young pair were among his most favorite mistresses. 

It was dark as midnight inside the tent as Jeron allowed the black leather flaps to close behind him. After waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light inside and finding that they utterly failed to do so, the king inched slowly forward with his paws outstretched in front of him, groping for anything that told him that he was making progress. As he passed through a second set of flaps he damned these two and their recently developed affinity for the dark...

"Moya? Aine? Blast it, girls, where are the two of you? Enough games!" 

Then the man heard the sizzling sound of a candle being lit somewhere close at hand and stopped short, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so. Down on the floor one of the pair knelt... Aine or Moya, the man wasn't quite sure. It had been hard to tell the pair apart when they _hadn't _been dressing and acting exactly alike. Now that they were, it was practically impossible. 

Jeron stood over the girl as she knelt on the dirty floor of the tent, her black hood dangling loosely over her head as she peered closely at something on the ground. The flickering candle in her hand cast the oddest shadow inside that hood, making it look for a moment as if there was something else sharing the space inside with her. He frowned impatiently. "Kueren said that--" 

"Quietly!" the girl hissed, interrupting what she was doing for a moment to flash a venomous look up at the monarch with her dark eyes. Jeron drew back a bit. As much as he put on a bold face in front of his men, there _was _something about the pair lately that was beginning to startle him... not the least of which was the profound loss of respect that they were beginning to show him. He was the king, after all... 

And then the girl glanced down once again, this time her eyes not quite so full of fury. Aine, he suspected. The one with the worse temper (by far) but also the one who calmed down more rapidly when she was through with her anger. With one paw she motioned for the other to kneel on the ground at her side and to look at the spot where she was.

Jeron was hesitant to be seen kneeling at anyone's behest, but after a moment did as the girl bade. Anyone brave enough to be in this tent without the permission of the sisters would have little enough respect for him anyway. He put his face close to the ground, trying to see in the dim light just what it was that she was trying to show him. But the harder the man tried, the more clear it became that what she was staring at was simply the dirt that covered the ground. 

"But wait a moment," Aine (for it was she) whispered mysteriously, placing one claw upon her lips to call for silence. And then she took the king's paw tightly within her own and slowly moved it down the side of her soft, dark robes until together they entered a small pouch at the girl's beltline. Following her direction, the monarch picked up a small amount of a grainy-type substance therein and pulled it out. 

Aine guided Jeron's hand around the small area of dirt by which they had knelt, together scattering liberal amounts of the black substance which they had pulled from the pouch onto the ground. And as the last few granules of the stuff was scattered into a surprisingly clear-cut circle upon the ground, the girl began to wave a single paw back and forth above it. 

The king frowned a question at her. "Watch," she insisted, nodding her head down towards the blackened earth. 

Jeron was becoming annoyed. From Kueren's tone, this had been something of the utmost urgency. He didn't have time to waste playing in the sand when he had the excavation of the collapsed tunnel to supervise... an excavation which was a direct result of this trip that Aine and Moya themselves had insisted that he make. This apparently hadn't even been the girls' invitation to a pleasantly distracting sexual encounter.

And then, nervously, the king watched as the circle upon the ground seemed to... waver. He didn't know how better to put it so that his mind would understand. As he studied it closely, the ground itself seemed to blur and become distorted in his view. It unnerved him mightily, watching something so firm and steady as the earth itself becoming subject to whatever powers the girl had stumbled upon. He felt in some strange way subject to the magic... and after an alarming moment Jeron felt so subject to it that he felt that he must look away lest he himself be drawn into the tiny circle. But despite his best effort the man found that, no matter how much he wished to, that he could no more avert his gaze than he could force his own claws to tear out his eyes. 

And then... _pain_. Terrible, wrenching pain as he felt himself pulled farther and faster into the darkness of the circle. It was surrounding him now, tearing his body apart. His head felt as though it would burst from the pressure in his ears as he was pulled unwillingly into the black hole. He was dying, he was sure of it. Dying... horribly, painfully... until... 

He felt a paw grasp his arm tightly, nails digging into his flesh as he was pulled back from the darkness and reentered the mortal world. "Careful, Majesty," he heard Aine's sibilant voice whisper a warning in his ears. "Not _too _closely. Just enough to watch..." 

Jeron's paw clutched tightly at the girl's arm as his soul clutched at her voice in order to cling to the reality that they represented. He had to get out of this darkness that she had cast him into. Had to, and quickly, before-- 

But then it was no longer darkness. Now he was back in the valley of Ash and Tears, near Kiara's house that he had left the previous day. Now he was no longer in pain but instead felt strangely detached from his body as he was drawn through the place, not having enough time to really take in all that he was seeing. Almost as a ghost must feel, the man mused, as he drifted unseen through the woods and even through individual houses, his vision not impeded by their impermeability. 

He watched, bemused by the journey and what purpose it served, until he came once again to Kiara's great house. Inside his soul flew, no longer encumbered by mortal restraints, and there his eyes became fixated on a figure lying on a bed beneath a light set of sheets. _This was what she called to show me?_ the king mused, hoping that when he could get a better viewpoint that the body beneath the sheets would be young Ailora's. 

But it was not to be. As the view shifted and became more perfect in the man's eyes, he saw that the creature on the bed was not even an _a'ladon_ at all. It was large, lanky, and almost completely devoid of fur. The creature's sleep appeared to be far from restful as it tossed and turned upon the bed, as if trying to escape from something.

And then the thing sat up, blue eyes snapping open as it stared directly into his own face... though in truth, he wasn't certain that it could actually _see _him. "Begone, and away quickly!" the creature shouted its demand, thrusting a hand in his direction... a hand that looked to the king to be veritably aglow with gold fire. 

"Takeru!" Jeron screeched in alarm, moments before he felt his existence thrown violently out of Kiara's house, back through the woods and again into the darkness ten times as quickly as he had come. And if he had felt pain in the darkness before, now it was sheer agony. The man screamed aloud, clutching desperately for Aine's paw... his only lifeline away from the hurt. But he had lost his hold and could no longer feel her, and was fading ever so fast...

"Majesty! Majesty! ... Jeron, open your eyes!" 

The king did as he was commanded, feeling a pair of strong arms around his shoulders. As his eyes opened again into the dim light of the tent, he screamed once again and clutched fervently at the speaker and his strong, hearty voice. It was a jumbled mess of fur and terror as the king latched onto his savior like a drowning man, a babbled string of incoherencies pouring forth from his lips. "T... T... Ta, Ta... Tak..." 

"What have you done to him, witch?" Kueren demanded angrily, the warrior having burst into the tent only seconds after hearing the king's cry.

Aine knelt quietly in the corner, affixing the soldier with eyes that might have seared him to ash if he had been paying any attention to her and nursing her tender cheek where he had struck her to the side. Before, the sergeant had been a minor inconvenience. But now... he would suffer for that blow. After a silent moment in which Kueren cradled the bawling king like an infant, the girl hissed back her response. "He'll be fine in a moment, soldier. He's just frightened. Take him back to his tent and get him calmed down... and tell those fools dragging that shale out of the mountain to be quick about it. Else His Majesty may truly have something to be scared of." 

The sergeant snarled an incoherent response back at the girl as he helped Jeron to his feet, trying to get him to stop shivering so violently. He wanted desperately to get him out of this tent and the dark odor of death and decay... back into the sunlight... but he just could not do it with him in this condition. The soldiers respected him little enough as it was and that shriek of panic could not have helped any; if they were to see him in this terrified state, his reign could very well be at an end right here. 

Aine, unseen by the other, smiled at his back as blood continued to fill her mouth. "You're right, sergeant, it can end here," she murmured to herself, though Kueren had not spoken aloud. She was well satisfied with the king's terror; terror that hopefully would redouble his efforts to get into that mountain. It was so much easier to be witness to another's fear than it was to concentrate upon her own. 

Takeru! Here! The girl bit down on her lip, lest she be overcome by another fit of profanities. It was bad enough that he was still alive when by all counts he had fallen beneath a savage attack while in his own world several years earlier. But how in the name of all bloody and searing Hell had he become involved in this at _this _stage? The girl supposed that he almost certainly would have followed when Hikari was captured and brought here in chains, but by then it would have been too late. But _now_? 

And Hikari already here as well! In the city of Kelmuir, some days' journey away. Moya had gone to see to that particular matter, which could well be to the sisters' advantage, but it was evident to each of them that their well-scripted plan was slowly being dissolved into chaos. This had been over a year in the making... to see it falling apart like this in under a week was particularly disconcerting. 

Moments after Kueren had walked a just slightly less terrified Jeron out of the tent, Aine stuck her head out as well. "Guard!" she called shrilly to the black-haired _a'ladon _standing just outside the leathery flaps. The man snapped to attention at her voice, knowing that this one and her sister both held great sway with the king. Aine nodded once. "Once your sergeant is done with what he's doing, tell him to form a contingent of his soldiers and send them back down to the valley. Your king's very life depends on it!" 

The other frowned. He was not used to taking orders from little girls (no matter how much magic they knew or who they slept with), but this was far from an ordinary situation, and he supposed that just delivering the other's demands to the sergeant would be harmless enough. "Aye, mistress!" he said, snapping to attention again for just a moment before following in a stately march after the rapidly departing pair. 

Aine frowned, not at all certain whether that had been meant as an insult or not. Still, she supposed, it had been close enough, and mentally added another name to this list of those who would suffer when she had taken what had been promised her. 

************ 

From his position perched atop Kari's shoulder, Patamon blinked rapidly in astonishment and to try to recover from the lingering effects of vertigo. A scant moment ago they had been standing atop a lonely mountain hillside just after noon, having followed T.K.'s trail to that very spot. After some moments of searching, Kari had become convinced that this was the spot from which the boy had left their world. A hurried 'conversation' with the Crest of Light had seemed to confirm this notion, and then with a brief (though violent) explosion of the Crest, he, Gatomon and the girl had found themselves in this dank, dusky (and thoroughly unpleasant, to Patamon's mind) city. 

"_Yuck_," the little creature murmured, inching up Kari's shoulder and closer to her head. "This place smells _awful_."

"I thought you were supposed to be all ears, not all nose and mouth," Gatomon snapped from her position at Kari's feet and looking up at the girl. "Kari's trying to think. Let her."

To be completely honest, Kari was thinking very little about just where the Crest had taken them. Almost at once she had seen the passing _a'ladon_, and that was enough for her. Since there was no evident danger, the girl was still taking time to remember what had happened just before they had left.

Nefertimon had carried both she and Patamon to the mountain from her own home after the three had taken only a few moments to explain to Tai (whose fiancee had absconded with their mother to do some last minute shopping for a bridal shower) where they were going. Or rather, she amended, _she _had explained it to him while Patamon and Gatomon had tackled the young man and held him down until she had finished speaking. 

The holding down part had been necessary because, as Kari had predicted, Tai went into veritable conniptions when told what the trio was planning. It had taken some fast talking on the girl's part to explain to him why she was doing this and why it had to be her and her alone. Tai was only days away from being married now and had his own responsibilities, and it was time that he stopped treating her like a child. That if it was Sora that had gone away, he would be doing exactly the same thing. 

Tai's struggling slowly died off as soon as he had heard that part, the words having shaken him as soon as he gave them an honest chance to sink into his head. The emotional part of him had almost instantly spoken without thinking and had fallen back on the old argument that something like that would be entirely different.

_Why? _Kari had demanded. Why was it different? Because she was his sister? Because she was younger? Because she was 'only a girl'? She had answers for these all ready and waiting for him to pose them; devastating answers that would crush his opposition the moment that she had voiced them. 

And then she saw the affectionate (if concerned) look in her older brother's eyes, and knew that it was none of these things. Well, it may have been in smaller portions, but the main gist of it was... 

The two siblings studied each other intently for a moment. And after a while, and after Tai had looked at her long enough to break through her facade and into her soul, he gave a weak smile. _You really do love him, don't you? Boy, almost six years and a dozen adventures later, and it took me this long to figure it out. It never was just puppy love, was it? _

_Well... to be honest big brother, you never were that quick, _she had replied teasingly, And then, so as to once and for all erase any lasting doubts that he might have, Kari's eyes shown with a sisterly affection as the girl played her trump card. _I'm going to marry him, Tai. _

Kari had the disappointed satisfaction of seeing two jaws figuratively (though not _quite _literally) hit the floor. Disappointed, of course, because she had been trying for three. Gatomon, however, had responded only with a look of feline coolness. In all honesty, her opinion of the other two had dropped a bit when they'd allowed their surprise to show. What, had they been asleep for the past five years?

It was a rout after that, as Tai couldn't honestly think of one single good idea why she shouldn't go or why he should. Well, actually, he could think of several dozen, but he wasn't going to speak them. He had seemed reassured that both Patamon and Gatomon were going with her, and did seem to agree that T.K. would need her there... though she had conveniently left out the fact that T.K. had, by all counts, left her a warning begging her not to follow. Very little point in bringing that up. 

But in the end and with a tight, brotherly embrace, Tai had consented not to try to stop her or to tell their parents where she had gone. Being able to think of nothing else, he had extracted a promise from her to be careful and not to get into any trouble... promises that, if he had thought about it honestly, had already been broken the moment that she had decided to go. But after she had agreed to the promise, only a last and joint _I love you _had been spoken before their departure.

"You okay?" Gatomon murmured from Kari's feet to wake her from her reverie. 

The girl blinked and then nodded quickly in response, glancing down at the Crest in her hand. Even the perpetual source of light seemed a bit darkened in this gloomy place, yet still it seemed to be struggling valiantly to come to brilliant life. But even worse than the smothering, dusky haze that obscured the Crest was the very feel of the city. It felt sad... hopeless. There was an almost tangible despair surrounding them there, the source of which none of them could exactly say. 

Kari stepped back against the wall of the building by which they stood, motioning for Gatomon to do the same. So far it appeared as if none of the _a'ladon _in the streets had noticed their arrival... and for good reason, too. For each and every one of the creatures that passed them by had his or her head hung low, their eyes firmly fixed upon the ground and not for an instant pausing to look upwards. Most were, if not completely feeble, then certainly very weak and very filthy. Their fur, which Kari remembered was normally a lustrous reddish color, was more often than not a dull gray, sometimes even so dusky as to appear black. 

The crowd pressed tightly together during their synchronized shuffling down the street, moving steadily without any sound or seemingly even any conscious thought. Kari thought that she had never seen anything so heartbreakingly painful in her entire life. 

"Where are all the men?" Gatomon questioned as she, too, studied the large gathering. 

The question pulled Kari out of her depression for a moment. "What?" she returned, no longer bothering to keep her voice down. No one out there was listening to her, anyway. 

"I said 'Where are all the men?'," Gatomon repeated. "Almost everyone out there is a woman or a child. Did we stumble into a war of some kind?" 

Her attention drawn to the fact, Kari too now noticed that there were very few male _a'ladon _in the crowd... and Gatomon's last question haunted her. Had T.K. left home to fight in some sort of war? That would certainly seem to be one explanation for the lack of adult males in the gathering.

The three now noticed the crowd starting to thin out as the main body moved away down the street, leaving only a few stragglers in their wake. Patamon began to fidget impatiently. "Well?" he whispered, looking down from Kari's shoulder. "Where too? Do we want to follow them? What does the Crest say?" 

The girl looked to be deep in thought as she glanced down at the little talisman in her fist. Any light that it gave was noncommittal at best, and Kari wondered whether that meant that T.K. was a great distance away or whether something in the dark city was interfering with it. It was, after all, an object of goodness and light, and the gloomy feel of the crowd that had just passed might well have been obstructing its power. 

So Kari took the lead. She had to find T.K., yes, but in the immediate absence of a way to do so she was also determined to find out what was wrong with these _a'ladon_. In the past they had looked upon her as a goddess and, whether they still did so or not, she felt a great sense of responsibility for them. "Come on," she said to Gatomon, stepping forward into the street once again. "Let's find out what's going on here." 

The three fell in step behind the great crowd, even lagging behind the stragglers at the end. Kari's brow furrowed in concentration, not exactly certain which was the best way to do this: whether to wait to be noticed or to take the initiative and pull one of the creatures to the side. After a moment of silent debate the girl decided to wait until a better opportunity presented itself and so just followed along at the rear, sidestepping the shallow puddles of murky water that covered the cobbled stones of the street.

It was a sad but brief journey through the decrepit buildings and winding streets of the city until the procession came to a stop in a large, open-aired plaza of some sort. And if the city itself had been dark and ominous-feeling, this place had to have been ten times worse. Kari watched as the bushy tails of the creatures dragged along the ground as they entered, still not a one who bothered to look up at where they were going. Resigned to the object of their despair, it appeared. 

"Kari, I don't like this," Patamon whispered into the girl's ear. 

Kari nodded, very little point in verbalizing the obvious point that she didn't like it either. 

The three stood at the very back of the crowd, but due to the fact that Kari was a foot or so taller than most of the creatures therein, they had a fairly good view of what was happening at the front. They could now see that most of the male _a'ladon_ were indeed there, stoically lined up single file a good distance away from the remainder of the crowd and shackled tightly to one another. Patamon, his ears sharper than the rest, could hear poorly suppressed whimpers of sadness coming from the group in front of them as the men turned in unison to face the remainder of the crowd. 

And then a separate, smaller group entered from the opposite side of the plaza, causing Kari's breath to catch in her throat. Saurians. Perhaps two dozen of the muscular beasts, each of them towering over the _a'ladon_ and dressed in finery that made the garb of the smaller creatures seem like veritable rags. And at their backs glided a figure draped from head to toe in a jet black, silken robe. It was impossible for her to tell whether it was male or female with the cowl draped forward over its head as it was, but by the size the girl was forced to assume that it was another _a'ladon_ and not a Saurian. Another moment and a bushy tail at the back confirmed that suspicion. 

Moya turned slightly to her left, her eyes darkening as she felt the pairs of alien eyes boring into her back from the crowd. So, the Lady Hikari had made her way here... interesting. It would, at least, save her the trouble of trying to scour the entire blasted city for the child, but she had a fear that the human might well try to interrupt today's events. It had taken split-second action and the calling in of several long overdue favors to see that the girl's trip through the dimensional portal had brought her here to Kelmuir instead of to Takeru's side once she and Aine had learned that Hikari was intentionally coming back to this land. 

Linked as they were, Moya wondered with Aine exactly what this portended. Certainly the arrival of the two back here just days... perhaps hours now... away from the time that they would need her could not be coincidence. Convenient, yes, but two more arbitrary factors thrown into this equation. And the girls simply hated arbitrary factors. 

Well, Takeru was Aine's problem for now. Hikari, the judgment of these slaves, and the fact that Shay (blasted little brat) had vanished yet again were her own. Even as she marched onwards she was working on a plan to deal with at least two of these. 

But then it was time. As the Saurian 'creditors' took seats in the very front of the crowd, Moya (advisor to His Majesty) stepped forward and removed her dark hood, calling to mind the words of legal sophistry that it would take to see this transaction done while at the same time keeping a riot from occurring. The laws expressly outlawing slavery in the lands of the _a'ladon _were among the first announced by King Mylam when he had first ascended to the throne some three hundred years ago. His people, at that time, had lived under bondage to the Saurian king for many years prior to that, so of course it was of great importance to the young king that such atrocities never happen again. 

But the current monarchy had a different view of the trade. It was, in Jeron's eyes, almost a necessity to allow some _a'ladon _to be enslaved by the Saurians if the king of the lizards was to allow some of his own subjects to be forced into servitude here. _Quid pro quo_, as it were. After all, Jeron would never have survived this long as king if it were not for his Saurian legions. But since the slave trade was expressly outlawed, this legal fiction had to be carried out virtually every month. Moya shook her head. Fool that he was. Surely Jeron couldn't be so stupid as to not see why the Saurian king allowed his people to be 'enslaved' here. 

"My countrymen!" Moya said, projecting her voice over the entire audience, who hushed at once to hear her words. She nodded in satisfaction. "My countrymen, I come to you today as the magistrate whom your lawful king Jeron has placed in authority over this region. For today, a complaint has been brought against these men," here she waved a hand to the dozens of disheartened-looking prisoners behind her. She paused for effect. "A complaint brought by these guests to our city!" Now she indicated the Saurians in the front row. 

A few angry mutterings were heard from some of the crowd members and from a couple of the male _a'ladon _standing behind her, mutterings which the dark-haired girl silenced with a single, deadly glance. In a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the comforting whisper of a mother as she tried to quiet her simpering infant. With an agonizing and overstated slowness, Moya reached into a pocket of her robes and withdrew a small scroll. On it was written the 'crimes' of which the prisoners were accused, though of course she knew them by heart.

The girl cleared her throat. "It has come to our joint and lawful attention that each of these citizens," she indicated the _a'ladon _men, "have separately been provided with certain sums of monies by these visitors to our city," now to the Saurians, "and that each of them has subsequently defaulted on the agreed upon terms of repayment." 

Moya turned her back on the crowd, facing the men and her voice becoming stern. "I need not remind all of you," she said, in a voice loud enough for the crowd to hear as well, "that this is an offense which is looked upon with absolute seriousness by the Crown. Each of these foreigners has provided documentation sufficient to prove your crimes. Do any of you have the means to dispute these charges?" 

The ragged men glanced back and forth to one another, each hoping that his neighbor would have something to say that would forestall what was about to come. That perhaps the man standing next to him would be more educated and could conjure up some vague point of law that would nullify the contracts which they had signed, and subsequently defaulted on. 

Moya suppressed a grin. How many times had she seen this. The hope in the eyes, slowly fading to despair and then finally to acceptance. Oh, every so often one or two of the fellows would step forward and protest that he had only borrowed the money to feed his family when the price of food had climbed to exorbitant levels that spring. That, even then he would have had the means to pay it back if a random financial disaster had not come upon him when the loan came due. That all he needed was a little more time... 

The girl ever wondered if the simpletons in the city ever wondered just why food prices seemed to climb so high on such a regular basis. If they ever wondered why these disasters that made them debtors in default seemed to always strike them at just the worst time. She didn't really care, but she did wonder sometimes. 

Moya gave a forced sigh when her question was met only with silence. "Very well then," she said, trying to sound disappointed. "Since I take it that not one of you will dispute your guilt, I am forced to rule in favor of your creditors. But instead of the normal prison sentence of five years which would do nothing to abrogate your debt, each of these men has generously accepted a compromise by which you will be bound in service to them for a like period. Each of you will become a servant during that time, after which your debt will be considered paid in full." 

The audience let out a collective groan as they heard the girl pronounce that which they had to have known she would have. For the past three years, the circumstances, crime, and sentences had been virtually indistinguishable. For the past three years the women and children of that city had watched their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons chained up by the _a'ladon _guards and taken down to the docks, where they would be boarded onto Saurian ships and taken across the ocean... not to be seen again for half a decade. 

Gatomon looked up at Kari. She knew, after several years of association with the girl, that she was unlikely to react well to what they had just heard and was probably wouldn't do the prudent thing and just stay out of this situation. Like a brief calm before a storm, a brewing tempest was about to explode all around the little feline.

"Stop it!" Kari's voice, clear as a bell, exploded from the back of the crowd. 

Gatomon hated being right all the time. 

No less than two hundred pairs of eyes turned to the human girl and the two digimon. Moya, unwatched by anyone else now, winced. This was likely to be very dicey, and her mind worked quickly to try to turn what was about to happen to her advantage. _Quickly... quickly now... _

"Who speaks?" Moya called, feigning confusion and furrowing her brow as if she was scanning the crowd for the speaker. It probably mattered little, since not a single eye was on her at the moment, but nevertheless she would like to maintain the illusion of astonishment as long as possible. 

When a time passed without an answer, the girl clenched her fists tightly. "Who are you?" she demanded once more. "Do you have evidence to impart in this present dispute?" 

Patamon and Gatomon exchanged helpless looks with one another as Kari stepped forward, the Crest of Light upon her wrist aglow with a gentle silver nimbus. "I do," the girl said calmly, reassured by the rightness of her actions. At that moment, even T.K. and his plight were pushed to the side as she acted to avert the wrong which was about to occur. 

Down below, the Saurians looked to one another and started murmuring in low tones. This was unexpected. The 'trial' was supposed to be simply a show for the families, as in the past. As their king had agreed to with the king of these creatures, these men had been formally bought and paid for... 

Now that the _a'ladon_ gathering had gotten a good look at the girl and the pair of creatures with her, a steadily increasing murmur was beginning to rumble through the crowd. Now and then an excited creature's voice would rise above the crowd and be heard to address the girl as 'The Lady Hikari' or as 'LightBringer', her title of old among the creatures. Patamon's long ears even caught his own name (horribly mispronounced) being mentioned once or twice. He smiled. 

"Silence!" Moya screeched at the crowd, her temper beginning to act up. The girl tried to catch the words as they left her mouth but failed miserably... and in the end, it mattered little anyway. Again, no one was paying attention to her now. Raising her voice over that of the crowd, she demanded for a third time, "Who are you?" 

Kari was calm, her face impassive. "My name is Kari," she called back down to the black-robed counselor. "Sometimes here called Lady Hikari, sometimes called LightBringer. And I do have something to say to you about this matter." 

The girl continued to move forward, holding her talisman up for all to see. The crowd, still murmuring with excitement, parted before her to allow her access to Moya and the prisoners. 

Moya began to sweat as the girl approached, her paws itching with the nearness of the child. _Take her now, or wait? _Her eyes shifted uneasily to the girl's protectors, watching the crowd and particularly the Saurians uneasily. She could defeat the two of them if it should come down to a fight, she was certain, but losing control right now and abducting the 'goddess' of these people could deal many of their best laid plans a great blow. Things were coming to a head anyway, but was now the time...? 

Aine would act. Aine would recognize that there was unlikely to be a better time. The human girl was only steps away, helpless and ready to be snatched away without Takeru here to guard her. Aine would not hesitate... 

Moya bit back her defiance. That was her sister's way, not her own. Assuming a deferential pose, she removed the dark cowl and curtsied deeply before the girl, her black hair shading her equally dark eyes. "My Lady," she almost fawned, purposefully instilling awe that she did not feel into her words. "You have returned to us." 

Kari wondered that the apparent leader of this gathering, and perhaps of many more, did not seem to question her identity even for a moment. At another time this might have concerned her more, but at this moment she had to stop this before it went any further. She looked Moya straight in the eye, then to the Saurians on her left, then back to the _a'ladon _girl. "It may be that I have been away for a long period of time, _magistrate_," she said calmly. "So perhaps you will enlighten me. When did your leaders begin to allow Saurians to purchase your people?" 

Moya blinked, aware that every eye in the plaza was on her now. Not an unusual circumstance, but one which the girl suddenly found exceedingly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she forced a smile. "We do not, of course, my Lady Hikari. But these men have been found guilty of a crime, and in the interests of all those involved in--"

"Do the laws enacted by Mylam the first still exist in these times?" Kari interrupted. 

_Damn her... _"Yes, of course they do, My Lady. They are the laws by which our nation was founded." She could see where this was going. None of these yokels from this backwater would ever make the connection that this human was about to make, however. Two stupid little words...

"Then, as I recall," Kari continued. "Mylam in his first act as king expressly outlawed any sort of slavery or indenturing here. That it is forbidden for an _a'ladon _to ever be unwillingly bound in service to any creature who is not the reigning monarch of his kingdom. It has been a long time, of course, but that is how I remember him phrasing it. Is that edict still in existence today?" 

_Damn legalisms_... "Ah... yes, Lady. I believe that it is." 

Kari's mind was focused now. That civics course in school was finally going to pay off! "Then it seems to me that, whatever their crime, these men cannot be sentenced to serve under a Saurian," she glanced at the creatures as she said, "slaver," then back to Moya, "unless they agree to accept that as a sentence. Or am I mistaken?" 

Several hundred held breaths seemed to anxiously await the next words of the king's representative, and Moya could feel all of them ready to crush her if she should say the wrong thing now. Before now, she would always have been able to overwhelm the yokels in attendance with her superior intellect and legal jargon. But it was clear that this human girl was, unfortunately, educated enough to save the lot of them from her intended slavery. _Unwillingly bound... _Before no one had even stop to think that such language could be interpreted to apply to a criminal punishment as well. _Damn them all_... 

"It... may be that you are correct, Lady Hikari. I do not believe that it has ever been put that way before." A cheer of hope went up from the crowd from the adults, understanding the possibility of victory where their children did not. "But we will have to have our scholars examine the records for certain, and possibly even have a decision made by King Jeron himself." That should buy her some time, anyway. She turned to the men shackled at her right. "You are all still under conviction, but your sentence will be forestalled until Lady Hikari's challenge can be reconciled with the law. You may return home to your families, but you are charged not to leave the city for any purpose whatsoever." 

And now a cheer went up from all of the _a'ladon _while the Saurians in the front row began to growl angrily and started to rise from their seats. But after a moment, it seemed to occur to them that they were outnumbered about fifteen to one. And then, when they caught sight of Gatomon rubbing her metal claws together and causing tiny sparks to appear, they decided as a group that they hadn't really lost... yet... and that discretion was almost certainly the better part of valor. 

And then, as the guards unlocked the chains of the men and, one by one, sent them back to their families, Moya shuffled forward in her black robes to more formally greet Kari. She bowed. "Lady Hikari, let me once again offer you my most humble greetings without the burden of so many eyes upon us. May I offer you the hospitality of my king's house while you are here? I am certain that such an extraordinary event such as your return to us is something that he would want to hear about most promptly." 

Kari was hesitant, now quite anxious to get on with her search for T.K. But there was something about the voice of the young _a'ladon_ girl that made her think that she was one who could be of some help. If she was blindly following after T.K. into a war or something of that nature, she certainly should follow well-informed. And after such a long day, the digimon almost certainly were in need of a rest.

"Okay," she said, smiling and taking the other's proffered paw as the joyous familial reunions continued all around them. "I'd be glad to. But you already know my name. What's yours?" 

Moya tried not to look taken aback by the girl's sudden change in demeanor. When she had argued for the freedom of the villagers, she had seemed totally intent on a confrontation. Now that the matter had been resolved, at least for a moment, she sounded as genuinely friendly as anyone that Moya had ever met. She blinked, biting back her surprise while still remaining conscious of the distrustful looks that the creatures with the girl were directing towards her. 

"Of course," she said smoothly, regaining her composure after a split-second. "My name is Moya, and I am advisor and counselor to His Majesty King Jeron. And occasional magistrate, as you have already seen. Please, come this way with me. Doubtless you have as many questions for me as I do for you..." 

************ 

Eloan was lost in thought as he stared down the road that led from the front door of his house away to the north, the words of his father echoing in his brain as he silently strummed the strings of his instrument. Though Takeru had not yet spoken of it, T'Kai's words to his son had implied that the great Paragon had come to once again fight against evil in some shape or form. And those same words had instructed him to join with the holy creature in whatever battle was to come. 

The boy smiled thoughtfully. What would his mother say to that? 

A voice at his shoulder interrupted his contemplations; a condescending yet oddly harmless and playful voice that shook him at once from his reverie. "Let me guess. Takeru again?" 

"Hello, Shay," the boy answered in a distracted voice, his eyes still focused down the road as if hoping the magical intuition that he had inherited from his father would give him some clue about what was to come. 

The silvery-haired boy grinned, much too anxious to resume his merciless teasing of his friend. He lowered his voice to a deep baritone, standing up straight and taking a deep breath to assume the role of the 'god' of the _a'ladon_. "Eloan! _Elooooooan! _Beware of treacherous tree branches which would bring you great harm! Beware of oaks in elm's clothing! And for heaven's sake, watch out where you're going when I'm talking to youuuuuu!" 

Eloan gave a single, polite chuckle, then turned. "He's come back, Shay. He's here." 

The other looked serious for a moment, blinking his auburn eyes. After a quick glance from side to side as if to make certain that no godlike figure was standing at his side, the teasing smile reappeared on his lips. He winked. "I knew it. You've finally cracked." 

"If I have, then mom and Ailora cracked right along with me. He's inside, asleep right now." 

Shay returned a cynical stare. It was unlike Eloan to play a practical joke or anything of that nature, or even to tell so blatant a lie. He mentally ticked off possible responses. Not joking. Not lying. Hopefully not crazy. After eliminating the other possibilities, he was left with but one that he could not immediately eliminate. That Takeru was actually... but then, that was just not possible. "Why?" was all he could think to ask. 

"I don't know yet," the other answered, his eyes still far away. "He hasn't said. But it's something deadly serious, Shay. And I'm to go with him... Father told me." 

"You?" Shay was incredulous. "To fight?" 

Eloan looked down to his folded paws and then, without taking his eyes away, pulled from a baggy satchel at his waist the broken hilt of his father's sword that had been presented to him the night before. He handed it to the other boy. "I'm not sure, and he hasn't really said. But that may be what this means. It was father's." 

Shay was serious now, taking the hilt from the other boy and examining it closely. "Was this the one that he used to kill--?" He trailed off, fascinated by the almost religious artifact in his paw. And for one of the rare times in his life a bit... perhaps just a bit... of the boy's mischievousness fell from him. He began to feel that something momentous was about to happen, and that his friend was evidently going to play some role in it. No matter which stories were taken into account, all agreed that the one known as 'Lord' Takeru never came into their world except in times of very great deeds. He almost felt jealous. 

The front door opened at their back and Ailora emerged, looking once to Shay and then to her brother. "He's awake, Eloan. Mom says its time for us to talk." 

The red-haired boy snatched the hilt of his father's sword back from Shay and was inside in a heartbeat, not bothering to excuse himself from the others. Ailora stayed for a moment, torn between a terrible need to go back inside to see the Paragon and an self-conscious desire to stay as far away from him as possible. The result of the girl's indecision was an awkward silence as Shay stood, watching her. 

"Ailora?" The tone of the boy's voice was a genuine, tender one, one that few but the girl had ever heard him use honestly. But at this moment, even that failed to stir her from her thoughts. 

He had not left her mind for the entire night. Takeru. Lord Takeru. Since long ago, his example had been the basis for manhood among the _a'ladon_. It had been to his temples that fathers had taken their sons when they had been ready to leave their boyish ways behind and become adults. And some of those adults would later kneel there again to be consecrated into the priesthood. It was his words that, even to this day, men spoke in order to propose marriage to their prospective mates. The most valiant of warriors prayed to him alone before battle, asking to be endowed with his strength and his righteousness. A pungent herb that those same men used to increase... she almost blushed... sexual potency was unofficially known as 'Takeru's Lance'. 

"Uhm, Ailora? Hoi?" 

If the girl had had precious little chance to see many grown men during her life, now there was an overpowering example of manhood sleeping right beneath her own roof. And not only of manhood, but of honor. Or valor, and sanctity, and honesty. It was said that he would never speak a lie. Her own father T'Kai, named in honor of Him, was ofttimes called 'Little Keeper-of-the-Promise'. Takeru was said to be indomitable in battle, and incomparable in peace.

Perfection. That was what he was, and Ailora could not seem to either contain or control the suddenly wild emotions aroused within her. 

"Hey! Too much more of this and you're gonna hurt my feelings!" Shay protested. 

Now Ailora unwillingly pulled out of her reflection before any more damage could be done. She knew that these feelings were wrong, even bordering on evil, but simply could do nothing to contain them. She turned to look at Shay. Before she had always thought him handsome, if in a roguish, naughty sort of way. He had been her playmate for several years now, and lately she had thought that they might even be moving beyond that. But now-- 

"Are you still mad at me?" the boy asked, genuine guilt showing in his eyes where she was almost certain that he would not want it to be seen. And almost as certainly, no one but her would have recognized it hidden back there. Shay was much more deep than he let on... if one took the time to find that out. 

Ailora straightened her back as she caught herself about to do something that she really shouldn't. That would be mightily unfair. Comparing him to Lord Takeru. No one could possibly measure up to that standard. 

"Mmm? What? Mad...?" The girl exhaled a deep breath, pausing for a moment. "No, I guess I'm not, Shay. I think I ought to be used to all of that from you by now. I'm sorry I snapped at you like that." 

The silver-haired boy nodded absently, looking away for a moment. In all honesty, he felt as though he too should apologize... but that was something that had never come easily to him. It had just been a stupid little snide comment anyway, but it did kind of irritate him the way that the girl never wanted to talk about anything but _Him_. Like she was trying to turn him into some sort of religious convert or something.

"Eloan said that he's really here," Shay said, long after the silence had become awkward between two for whom it rarely had. 

Ailora bit down on her bottom lip as she bowed her head. Shay blinked. That was one of Ailora's 'self-conscious' looks, one that he had seen from her very rarely and most others never at all. If Takeru had indeed come to her home, the boy supposed that she should have been dashing about in unrestrained delight and whooping loudly enough to be heard back in his own hometown. That she would be dragging the entire population of the valley here to meet him and finally have her faith in him justified. But no. Instead she looked almost... hurt. Perhaps he was not what she had expected? 

"Do you think I could meet Tak... Lord Takeru?" he asked, trying to draw an answer as to what was wrong out of her. 

Despite her distraction, Ailora noticed the way that Shay's paws were idly fidgeting around his beltline. That usually meant that something was upsetting the boy, something that he had no control over. She hid a smile. If it was something that he felt that he could control, he usually started taking steps to correct it almost immediately. 

"Sure," Ailora finally managed to respond, taking the boy's paw and leading him inside. While she didn't really know for certain if she could stand to be near Takeru much longer, she most certainly _did _want Shay to see him. He had teased her about her unwavering admiration for him long enough. It would be gratifying to finally be proved right.

************ 

Nero rocked back and forth with the awkward gait of the Saurian creature beneath him as he turned his head and looked back over his shoulder at the company of men that he and Kedar had been given to command. He frowned and his eyes narrowed at the motley bunch, all roaring with laughter at a rather vulgar joke just told by one of their comrades. Something about this did not sit well with him. 

_Irregulars_. These men were not even real soldiers, just a bunch of scruffy hirelings picked up along the way to bolster the size of their troop since necessity had demanded that a great deal of the king's men had stayed behind in the capital city. Handpicked by the king's witc... er, advisors, the man corrected himself mentally. 

Though dressed in the finery of the royal army, these men were a disgrace. Ragged, flea-bitten, undisciplined... they would have made a better mob of criminals than soldiers. But then, clearly they did know how to use the weapons that they had been given. Though Nero was uncertain if that made him feel better or worse having them at his back. 

And what an odd assignment! Back to the valley of Ash and Tears that they had left only the day before. Told of a threat against the king's safety, yet not having been told what the threat was. Even Kueren, who had delivered the order, had seemed somewhat circumspect about it. 

Yet here they were. Looking for what? An unnamed someone (or thing) following them on the road from the valley, told to stop them whatever the cost. Nero could not help but feel that this decision had not come directly from the Sergeant but from Jeron, or perhaps one of his counselors.

He would have felt better if it had come from the king. A notorious coward, the man had been developing a rather annoying paranoia lately, but at least then Nero would feel that the command was mostly harmless, if wasteful and lengthy. If it had come from Aine and Moya... that would be something else entirely. He wasn't sure what, but he was certain that it would not be anything quite so benign. 

Eh, well, as he had told Kedar often enough, they were soldiers. They did as they were told, like it or not. 

Nero swished his bushy tail around to clear the air around him of flies as Kedar pulled his own mount closer. "You as nervous about this as I am, Nero?" 

The darker of the two snorted in response. "Name of Takeru and Hikari and the rest of the pantheon, Kedar, grow up! Or lay down your sword and pick up your cane, one or the other! I can't decide whether you sound more like a mewling babe or my aged grandmother these days. Danger? Hah! Danger enough for Jeron to wet himself would be nothing more than an angry hornet on his trail. Calm down." 

The other looked shamed, his ears drooping, but still the nervous flicker of his paws continued. Nero rolled his eyes. "Kedar, we've just left the Valley! Did you see anything more dangerous there than a mischievous bunch of little children?" 

When a long moment without an answer passed, Nero turned away with a snort. It was easier to mock his friend's misgivings than spend too much time on his own. He chanced a quick look back at the soldiers trailing them, all of them still guffawing loudly at one another's crude humor. Once or twice he thought he saw the particularly large fellow at the front studying him closely, not joining in with the merriment of the others. But then the next moment he was certain that it was only his imagination, as the big _a'ladon _joined in with his comrades. 

He was certain that it was only his imagination... 

************ 

"Strange that you should mention it, Tekay," Kiara (for that was how she pronounced his name when speaking informally) was saying as Ailora and Shay entered the room. "That area has been quiet ever since the three of you departed last time. But it was only early yesterday evening that the king himself, Jeron, came to get permission to go into the mountain. I would have stopped him, but--" 

The boy cut her off with a frown. "Jeron? The elder from T'Kai's village? He's been crowned _king_?" 

Kiara nodded a confirmation. "Over a dozen years ago." 

T.K. was deep in thought, scarcely having heard the other's reply. He had briefly met the _a'ladon _in question the last time that they had come, and had not liked him even then. He had felt that the man showed a distinct lack of concern for T'Kai's safety, wanting to send him alone on the perilous journey that would eventually create the child's legend.

Eloan watched as the hands of the human balled slowly into fists, though the expression on his face did not change. What was it that he saw in those eyes? Anger? Determination? No... Perhaps, but not quite. Sadness? A bit. But really more like... 

Resolution. Yes, that was it. Resolution. As if the boy god were caught up in something that he did not like, but at the same time could not ignore. To see the look on one such as he surprised the young a'ladon to say the least. 

Kiara looked at the human as well, concerned, when her daughter entered the room. "Ailora, Shay," she motioned. "Come. Sit with us." 

The two did as they were bade, each staring with uncertainty at T.K. as they moved into a pair of vacant seats next to the woman. But though Ailora continued to stare at the human, after a moment Shay looked over to Kiara. He sounded concerned. "Did you just say that the king went to Cypress... into the mountain itself? Is that what he was doing here yesterday?" 

The other nodded her response. "If I'd had enough sense I would have stopped him somehow. I've had the feeling all day that he's not on the innocent pilgrimage he would have had me believe." She paused for a moment, as if a revelation had suddenly dawned on her. "That's right, isn't is Tekay? That's why you've come back. Something evil is going to happen over there..." 

T.K. didn't even hear the question, though he had half expected it. Kiara had always been a very wise girl, and had to have known that his sudden appearance here signified no good thing. All he could hear at the moment was the last warning that the demon had given him before he arrived here.

_But first they would have to have a mortal -- a mortal acting of his own accord, no less -- to remove the barrier to the body._

__

No one could get into that mountain. It had been sealed off by an earthquake of historic proportions and wards set against it by Cheyne the Archangel before they had left... seals that only one with Kiara's permission could breach and even attempt to enter. But _if _Jeron had managed to command, coerce or otherwise wield the permission from Kiara and _if _he had taken with him the means to somehow remove the almost innumerable rocks covering the entrance... 

"I've got to go after him," the golden-haired boy murmured to no one in particular, his eyes far away as if he could almost see the pending disaster about to occur. 

Eloan and Shay leapt to their feet in unison, Eloan's chair tumbling noisily to the floor. "Me too!" they both exclaimed in chorus, then turned to look at one another. 

Kiara flashed both _a'ladon_ boys a scathing look that silenced them and made them both take their seats again, then turned back to T.K. "Is this something you should tell me about?" 

The human nodded, if reluctantly, a few strands of blond hair falling in front of his cerulean eyes. "He... he's going to free D'assan, Kiara. The thing's body, at least. I don't know if he's being tricked or if he's been promised some sort of reward for doing so, but that's what's happening." He paused, as if wondering just how much of what was about to happen he should relay to the woman. "But... but there's another Power that's going to be there when he does free it. Something even worse that's planning to inhabit the body. And when that's been done, that thing is going to go after Kari." 

Kiara looked grim, almost fierce for a moment... but then allowed the glare to soften until it had actually become a smile of sorts. She almost looked... what? Proud? 

"Then I almost feel pity for the wretched creature, fool that he is. Threatening the Lady Hikari with her champion still about in the world." 

T.K. had the grace to glow with a faint blush. But then Kiara turned to Eloan and Shay. "The two of you, however, are staying out of this. 'Tis bad enough that Lord Takeru has to go into that damned place and fight yet again. He doesn't need two children underfoot as he does so." 

Ailora didn't hear her mother, paws clasped together under the table as she stared at T.K. _How noble! How incredibly heroic! He's willing to go and stand against such terrible evil simply because it's threatening... _but here she trailed off with a frown. _...someone, _she finally managed to finish lamely. 

T.K. noticed the girl staring at him as Kiara lectured the boys. He turned a bit, responding with a friendly smile. 

The young _a'ladon's _heart almost stopped as her eyes locked with his. She desperately wanted to look away; indeed, almost felt as though she would faint if she didn't, but for one reason or another she found that, as long as he was watching, she could do little more than stare back. She could hear the blood pounding out a frantic rhythm in her ears and hoped that he could not hear the thunderous beating as well, lest he wondered what it meant. She had never felt so wickedly passionate in her entire life.

"Mother... I have to go," Ailora heard her brother say, his voice uncharacteristically firm as he interrupted his mother's tirade. And finally, thankfully, Takeru turned away and allowed her to do the same. An anxious silence fell over the room before Eloan continued. "I've been told that I must." And with that he produced all that remained of his father's great sword. 

The golden hilt would have been very large even for a human. In the smaller paws of the _a'ladon_, it looked almost unmanageably so. The light reflected in an odd manner from the old, scripted runes running lengthwise across the pommel-guard, and T.K.'s eyes were drawn to these instantly.

T.K. wasn't exactly sure what the glyphs meant, though he had a guess and the Crest of Hope certainly would have translated if he'd cared to find out. But ignorance did nothing to dull the electric thrill that traveled down his spine when he studied it, and he knew instantly where he'd seen it before. The exact same lettering had been scrawled upon Michael's Sword of Ages when he'd spun it into being from his Crest. The form of the runes was very special to the boy, and confirmed what the younger _a'ladon _was saying. When T'Kai had died the hilt (all that remained of the great weapon) had been burned on the pyre alongside his body, incinerated by the divine fires that Cheyne had called up. Now, apparently, the Paragon had returned it to his son as his emblem. 

But to have Eloan with him... T.K. didn't know what to think about that. He was on a journey that was diabolical in its dangers. Last time, though their positions had been reversed, this same battle had led to T'Kai's death. He didn't know if he could willingly place the boy in such circumstances, particularly as it was evident that he was no warrior. 

Kiara, however and somewhat surprisingly, seemed to have no such misgivings. She nodded, accepting her son's story as true at once. Very little point in denying it, as T'Kai had appeared to her with the shattered blade in his paws before. And anyway, she would sooner expect the sky itself to fall to the ground before she would believe that Eloan would tell such a lie. And though her face was set and her voice proud, there was an unshed tear lingering in her eye as she said, "Very well. Your father has told you that you must go and therefore you shall. I believe that I had always known this day would come..." 

And then she turned to Shay. "And you, child? Do you also have some sort of relic from days past to show me to convince me that you, also, have been told to journey with Takeru?" 

Shay shook his silvery head, his eyes closed. He looked very serious... almost sad, and certainly no longer the carefree, charming boy that they were all used to. Something that had been said had apparently been grievous enough to turn him from lighthearted to anguished in just that little time. "But I do not journey because of the Lord Takeru," and here he gave a bow in the human's direction, causing Ailora to blink once. She had never before seen him honestly genuflect to anyone. Yet that gesture, she would swear, had been sincere. "I simply travel to the same place as he does. My reasons are... my own." 

Kiara stepped back for a moment and looked at the pair, still side-by-side. And as she looked, she saw something that had been escaping her for some time. They were no longer children. Not adults yet, but certainly no longer children. They were not dashing headlong into this fight because it sounded fun or in order to prove that they were grown up or something foolish such as that. No. Both of them were wanting to go because of a purpose, if she wasn't exactly sure what that purpose was. 

T.K. was about to interrupt, to say that this was something that he had to do alone, when there came an unwelcome voice from inside his head. _Exemplar..._ it hissed, reminding the boy that he was not precisely alone in this venture. _You tarry here too long. This place is no longer safe. We have been discovered, and even now my Brother moves against us._

The boy was about to once again snap at the creature to begone before he heard the other continue, _Even now they approach, with orders to raze this settlement and all they find in it. I suggest that you flee._

T.K. was on his feet in a second. "No!" he exclaimed, guilt washing over him as he heard the words of the demon echo back within his head. He _had _been here too long, and now had placed the lives of Kiara and her family in danger. 

The three _a'ladon _turned to stare at the human, who in turn looked to Kiara in mortified anger. "We're in danger. Do you have weapons here?"

The other blinked in surprise. "Danger? Who... where...?"

"Weapons, Kiara! Quickly!"

The woman nodded once. "Your staff. I kept it all this time. In the case beneath the picture of you and Lady Hikari at the other end of the hall." And she turned and gestured at her back, then turned to her daughter. "Ailora, you know where. Bring it."

The girl dropped to all fours and was off in an instant. "But that's all," Kiara continued, deep concern in her eyes. She did not know how Takeru knew that they were in danger and had no idea why it should be so, but she did trust him.

Eloan stood firm. He was ready to fight. He did not know against who or what they were about to face, but he was as ready as he could be. He felt almost proud... he would go into battle at the side of his father's friend Takeru.

T.K. saw the look on the boy's face. Saw it and knew it for his father's. Evidently the other boy, the one called Shay, had disappeared when his back had been turned, for there was no sign of him now. And then came a frightened pounding at the front door, and a shrill voice rang out, "Miss Kiara! Miss Kiara!"

The woman ran towards the door, T.K. and Eloan on her heels. "Eloan!" the human demanded as he pulled the Crest of Hope from beneath his shirt and noticing the whistle bouncing from a leather strap around the boy's neck. "Did you inherit your father's ability to compose the Holy Symphony?"

The two darted past Kiara, who was now embracing a clearly terrified Delia just inside the doorway. In another moment the two were past her and burst out into the bright midday sun where a horrifying scene met their eyes.

A group of _a'ladon_, much larger than any of that race that T.K. had ever seen before, were running amok in the village. They were armed mainly with long cavalry swords, though the boy did notice that the largest of the group (and what a giant he was!) was wielding a long scythe-like weapon, very similar to the one that Davis had tried to use the last time that they had come here. In addition, several four-legged Saurians, from whom the _a'ladon _had apparently just dismounted, were also tromping unrestrained about the area and were attacking with their tails as deadly whips.

Eloan's teeth snapped audibly together. "I can play the music, Lord," he murmured, feeling at the same time both frustrated and ashamed. "But I cannot control the magic."

T.K. scarcely heard the boy, already counting the invaders. At least twelve, he thought, though he did notice that a pair of the better dressed ones were already down and apparently injured... perhaps dead. But that still left ten. _We can't fight that many,_ he scowled, as the knowledge that his presence had brought this group here haunted him. If the words of the demon were to be believed, of course.

The human boy saw the carnage about to happen. This host was clearly bent on razing the little village to the ground, and all of those here were children and were already scattering about and screaming for their lives. There was no one else to resist and he knew that, if he did not act, there was no hope that any of them should survive.

_No more fighting! Once more against the demon, and then no longer! _his promise to himself nagged at him in the back of his mind.

__

He did not want to fight this fight. He did not want to have to kill again. He wanted no more blood, even if were tainted blood, on his hands. He wanted to be a child again... for just a little while.

Meanwhile the Crest of Hope pounded out a rhythm of righteous anger against the boy's chest, past cloth, skin and bone and through to his heart. _Just give the word! _it almost begged, and it would turn each and every one of these invaders into a living torch with its holy fire. It begged him to recast its form into the Sword of Ages, to skewer these beasts like rabbits on a spit and to save the innocent. It pleaded with the boy to once again don the Armor of Paragon! To fight! Not to just stand by and do nothing!

The screams in his ears died away as T.K. sunk into a kind of trance, his unseeing eyes glazing over. He needed reassurance. He needed Hope. What would the Most High do? Would He fight? _Had _He fought? He needed to know... needed to remember...

T.K. snapped awake in an instant, the right answer having come in response to the right question. Yes! He had! He would! But not with holy fire, and not with weapons of divine temper. The boy was not ready to surrender his soul to immortality just yet, and as he was dared not try to reforge the Sword of Ages. But he would fight.

The boy snatched the plain, heavy staff from Ailora who stood at his side... who apparently had stood at his side for several moments now... and dashed into the melee, whirling the weapon over his head wildly. With a mad shout he plowed his body into that of one of the invaders who was pursuing one of the Valley children, slamming it to the ground and ramming the butt end of his long rod into the surprised face of the creature before it could rise. It was hard to say which blow was more devastating: the one that T.K.'s weapon delivered to the other's face or the one that came when the creature's head subsequently collided with the ground. In either event, it knocked the raider into a senseless oblivion.

The boy was back on his feet in less than an instant, only to hear Ailora speak her first words to him. _"Lord!_" the girl screamed, her paws clutched tightly together. "Behind you!"

T.K. ducked the murderous thrust that had been aimed between his shoulder blades and caught the _a'ladon _warrior in the midsection, wrapping his arms tightly around its waist and locking his fingers behind its back. Sword now rendered useless, the _a'ladon _bit deeply into the boy's shoulder, tearing through the cloth and into his flesh. But T.K., ignoring the pain and straining mightily, still managed to hoist the surprised creature up by the waist and drop it backwards over his shoulder and to the ground. The boy turned, ready to fight, only to see that the creature had landed awkwardly on its head, twisting its neck about in a grotesque way. But he could waste no time to berate himself for killing again. Time enough for that later.

However now the invading _a'ladon_ had apparently gathered themselves into some sort of organized band, ignoring the scattered children and advancing on the one true threat. T.K. turned, wrenched the blade of his fallen opponent free of his already stiffening claws and slid it off in Eloan's direction. He hoped that the boy had some sort of skill with a sword... or at the very least that he could feign as though he did.

The _a'ladon _were still approaching, if nervously. Even their giant of a leader seemed cautious. Stories and legends about T.K. were prominent in every facet of these creatures' literature and fables. Not a one of them, even the most undereducated, failed to recognize him for who he was.

And then there came an armed figure to stand at his side, and to T.K.'s surprise it was not Eloan who held the sword that he had garnered, but Ailora. The fur on the girl's back was bristling and her tail almost twice as bushy as normal as she stood at his side, slightly in front of him and snarling at the attackers with bared teeth. The weapon in her paws was pointed straight at the others. If she did not truly know how to use it, she could certainly bluff well.

The big creature which led the others twisted his face into an ugly grimace at the armed pair in front of him. T.K. watched him warily. The creature was even taller than _he _was, truly a giant among the creatures who were considered very large at just five feet. "Get them," the monster snarled, staring at the two but addressing his men. "Kill them both, else it'll be our heads in the basket at Curinow Square."

The mob seemed shaken and ready to advance at this, but then a shrill cry of _'Goring Gambit!' _from their backs made them turn as one. Too late, as it happened, for even as they turned one was cut to the ground as the razor-sharp blade of a sword ripped through his throat; his neighbor falling as well with an equally sharp blade thrust through the muscles of his upper leg.

The newcomer moved like sliver lightning through the group, the late afternoon sun glinting off of a loose-fitting breastplate and fresh blood falling from each of his twin swords. His arms and legs were free of armor, his movements unencumbered by any additional weight or by constrictive attire. Atop his furry head was a solid-looking, silvery helm; around his waist he wore a loose cloth kilt.

Ailora blinked, the point of her sword falling to the ground at her feet. "Shay?"

And Shay it was, but so unlike the boy that the family had ever seen before. Now there was no playfulness about him, no mischievous glint in his eye. Now his fluid movements were not for dashing madly atop tree branches or for playing tag with the children of the village, but were for a deadly (though beautiful) method of fighting. In all honesty he looked simply... heroic.

Shay's deadly sword dance stopped only when he had came to a halt alongside T.K. and Ailora, breathing heavily. The remaining invaders looked alarmed as they started inching backwards away from the armed trio, each glancing back over their shoulders as they kept their weapons at the ready. It was as if they were waiting for something.

Shay took a moment to look back at T.K., who saw the glance and returned a nod. He had been in battles before, and knew exactly what the other meant. And so without a word passing between them both started after the group, rushing forward in tandem to the attack.

Ailora blinked in confusion, in her inexperience not seeing what the pair had. "But... wait!" she cried at the two, anxious for the fighting to be over with. "Stop! They're leaving. We've won!"

Shay looked back over his shoulder, sounding somewhat piqued at the girl's ignorance. "They're... not... leaving!" he panted, trying to catch his breath while still keeping up with T.K. "They're going back... for... the Saurians!"

Kiara and her children saw the truth of it as the largest of the group, the leader, caught onto the halter of one of the lizard-like creatures and pulled it to a stop, vaulting into the saddle with almost the same motion. T.K. and Shay slid to a stop in the wet grass, not daring to pursue the other any longer now that he had such an advantage. That one was going to be difficult to battle anyway... now mounted and wielding such a large weapon it looked to be near on impossible.

Kiara looked around, satisfied to see that the children of the valley had all successfully scattered or found sanctuary in the trees. They were, at least for the moment, safe.

Eloan clenched his paws tightly into fists as he watched Takeru, Shay and Ailora stand facing the invaders, ready to fight. The boy was humbled greatly in his humiliation. _He _was the one who had been ordered to go with Takeru on his mission, to stand by his side in battle. And now he was the only one who was not involved in the fight. Even his sister was there!

In frustration and almost unconsciously the boy grabbed at the wooden reeds dangling from the leather strap at his neck. What he had told Takeru had been true: any serious attempt that he'd ever made to use the power of his father's music had met with disaster. Recent legends held that T'Kai had been able to bring about any number of amazing effects just by playing the right notes on any instrument that he'd had sufficient practice on. But Eloan had no idea which song would accomplish what magic or even how to make it abide by his wishes.

Then he chanced to look down upon the golden hilt that he held in his paw. Evidently he had grabbed it sometime during the battle, though he knew that he could not, of course, fight with it. His father's weapon. His father's flute. Both useless to him without his father's courage or his father's skill...

But then the reeds were lifted from his paw by some invisible force and hung suspended in the air before him, just dangling there above the ground without any justification. And now, his eyes looking past the oddity for a moment, he could see the battle joined: Shay, Takeru and Ailora against the six remaining _a'ladon_, now all mounted upon their Saurians.

The boy tried to focus his concentration on the reeds. Something was happening here. Something important, he was certain, if only he could understand what...

And then the light came; a soft, golden light like that which had always accompanied his father, shining upon the second reed from the left. It held there for a moment before vanishing and leaping over two reeds to the right. And as the boy's eyes followed the golden light a clearly discernable pattern began to emerge: the second, the fourth, the second, the fifth, the first, the first, the fourth and the third. And as Eloan's eyes watched his brain translated the lights into the sounds that he knew would come when each of the notes were played. Then he blinked, brow furrowing in doubt. _"Takeru's Lament?" _he queried, as if to the inanimate instrument. "You want me to play _Takeru's Lament?"_

It was a simple and straightforward, though also very sad and poignant tune, really meant for funerals of those who had fallen in laudable causes. (According to legend, the bards of ancient times had composed this song when the seers had described a young T.K.'s grief as Angemon had died defeating Devimon. The truth of that legend may never be known.) But it was also one that Eloan knew quite well and could play flawlessly...even if his fingers were trembling as greatly as they were at the moment. And so without another moment of delay he snatched the reeds from the air, placed the mouthpiece to his lips, and started to blow.

T.K. ducked as the huge, scythe-like blade of the monstrous _a'ladon _went whistling over his head. A foot taller or second slower and he likely would have been decapitated. But as he tried to recover from the motion his right foot slipped on the moist grass. It was just a little slip, but one that proved disastrous. Disastrous, for at that moment the _a'ladon's _Saurian reared back, lifting a single front claw and planting it squarely in the center of the boy's chest and knocking him forcefully to the ground. All of the air was forced from T.K.'s lungs and his weapon went clattering to the side as tears of pain flooded his eyes.

The young human gasped in breathless pain, helpless upon his back as he waited for either the _a'ladon's _blade or the Saurian's foot to come down upon his chest to end the fight. But neither of these blows ever fell. For at that very moment he heard in the distance the sound of a mournful melody being played, a sound that he was almost certain was coming from the set of reeds draped around young Eloan's neck. And as the song played on and carried through his ears and into his mind, T.K.'s spirit suddenly felt as though it were taken far away from this fight.

He thought of home. Of his family and his friends. Though he had just left the morning before, he suddenly missed them terribly. He once again was tormented by his frustration with all the fighting and killing and with the grave burden of being Paragon. Hope fled from the boy, taking his strength with it as he was drawn into the heartbreaking melody. A heavy veil of melancholia, not unlike a fog, covered the immediate area as the sorrowful tune continued to flow from the reeds of Eloan's whistle.

But after a few terrible moments of misery, T.K. was able to pull himself together. Almost angrily the Crest of Hope flared brightly against his chest, fighting back against the lethargic feeling. With power it pulled him to his feet and slapped him smartly across the face, scolding him fiercely at the feeling of self-pity the song was trying to arise in him. He knew what his task was, the little relic admonished him. And he knew why he had been chosen to do this.

The sluggishness fell away at once as T.K. snapped to attention, his back stiffening and his eyes bright once again. But everyone else within the hearing of the song was not so fortunate as to have such divine power on their side. Of the six remaining invaders, four had tumbled limply from their mounts and were now in various states of crying fits. Two of these were embracing one another, apparently trying to gain some comfort from their companionship. One had his back against a tree and his face buried in his arms, his body racked by evident sobs. Yet another was face down on the ground and pounding away at the dirt. As for the other two, including the giant of a leader, they were nowhere to be found.

Eloan seemed to be lost in some sort of trance as he continued to play, his eyes closed and his claws moving seamlessly over the instrument. T.K. felt, if he looked closely enough, that he could even see the magic emanating from the opposite side of the reeds and covering the entire village like a heavy blanket. He felt that he must go and speak with the boy about this, but before that, he had to take advantage of the magical despair that had gripped the battlefield.

T.K. walked calmly up to each of the four attackers and relieved them of their weapons, picking up the two that had been dropped and taking the other pair right from their owner's paws. The boy moved quickly, seeing that not only the enemy but also Kiara, Shay and Ailora as well as most of the village children had been caught in the overwhelming sadness of the magical song. And then, after he had secreted the swords he'd taken behind a bush outside Kiara's house, the boy pulled the Crest of Hope from underneath his shirt.

He walked over to Eloan and placed a hand upon the young minstrel's furry shoulder. "Okay," he said, murmuring the word into the boy's ear. "That'll be enough. Don't get scared by what happens next."

The young _a'ladon _did as he was bade and allowed the tune to trickle off into silence, wondering what the other's last warning had meant. And then he watched as the Lord Takeru marched, slowly and purposefully, past both Shay and Ailora and back towards the unarmed _a'ladon _warriors.

T.K. had to keep a devious smile off of his face as he walked, his eyes narrowing upon the scruffy creatures before him. At the last moment, he remembered to throw a stern mental warning at the Crest of Hope and of Heroes upon his chest. This was no longer a battle, he punctuated firmly. What was needed now was not power, but guile. And while T.K. had always prided himself on being honest, this was one time that he felt quite at ease about making an exception.

The four _a'ladon _were staring wide-eyed at him now, trembling with the thought of what was about to happen. If it had occurred to them, they might have risked a scattering flight or a joint (if unarmed) attack. But as they watched the human approach (as T.K. had counted on) the old tales about the Lord Takeru were beginning to formulate within their minds.

T.K. wished he had Matt's flair for the dramatic. He supposed that he'd just have to extemporize.

_Now, _he thought to the Crest.

In an instant the talisman resting against his shirt revved up and burst into golden flames, catching fire with a blinding radiance that dazzled the four and made them step back in wide-eyed alarm. The looked on the T.K.'s face as he stared at them was terribly stern, bordering on furious, and the light flared and danced about the young human's chest as if created from his anger alone.

And then, with the explosive sound of an inferno being born, the brilliant fire engulfed T.K.'s shirt and torso from his waist all the way up to his golden hair. As the _a'ladon_, both friend and foe, watched on in horror, the boy's shirt disintegrated to ash before their eyes and left him bare-chested while the holy fire continued to dance about on his flesh, licking him affectionately as a pet does its master without once causing him any grief.

"What is _this_?" the boy demanded in the most powerful voice he could accomplish while the Crest (trying to be helpful of its own accord) accentuated the last word with more explosive sound effects. And now the golden flames surrounding him had become a veritable inferno, engulfing the human and swirling around him in all directions. With a sudden flair of creativity, T.K. raised a hand and threw a ball of the fire upward and into the heavens. Then he bit his lip. With any luck there wouldn't be any inoffensive birds flying overhead at the moment.

The four _a'ladon _dropped to their knees as one, three of them beginning to babble senselessly and the last becoming violently ill and crawling to the side to vomit. This was the Lord Takeru that they had heard about in their youth. The great god. The slayer of devils and tamer of angels. The righteous judge and maker of heroes. They were absolutely horrified.

T.K.'s shirt had long since crumbled to dust when he noticed the flames getting a little too close to the ground for his liking. _Not the pants_, he thought at the Crest, who, apparently miffed at having to stay out of the actual battle, was beginning to have more fun than was entirely appropriate in this little game. Now and then, more to show off than anything, it started to create images inside the flames rising from T.K.'s head and shoulders. Now a phoenix appeared to rest upon the boy's shoulder; then an angel standing in the air over his head; now an enormous, ferocious dog bristled at his feet.

_"Answer me!" _T.K. shouted, his words once again punctuated by a thunderous boom. The boy wasn't really sure all the noise was really necessary, but he supposed that it didn't hurt much. _"How dare you to attack these people?"_

Now the _a'ladon _warrior that had been vomiting swooned and fell away into a dead faint, and two others fell facedown on the ground and started to weep. Only one remained still, though he still trembled violently. "P... P... Pleeze L... Lord T... T... Takeru! S... S... Sp... Spare us. We waz only doin' as we waz told, yur Honor!"

_Don't hurt them, _T.K. warned the Crest, seeing the golden fire getting a little too close to the creatures. The holy fire of the talisman was harmless to a Paragon, of course, but thrust upon any but the purest of hearts it would instantly see through to the evil in their souls and incinerate it with great prejudice. Unfortunately, this would also mean the cremation of the body as well.

_"Told? You are creatures of free will and purpose! Who has the power to demand that you attack a village inhabited only by women and children?"_ He was particularly proud of that line.

The eyes of the speaker were bulging almost out of their sockets now as the inferno surrounding T.K. seemed to be coming right out of the human's eyes and mouth at him. It wasn't, of course, but the creature imagined that it was, and it terrified him anew. He wished that he could faint as well.

"J... J... Jeron... Jeron, Takeru!" the creature spit out. "'Twas the king hisself and his witches who gave the order. Said it was them that'd be dead or else 'd be us!"

Now, dramatically, T.K. extinguished all of the fire in an instant and stepped forward, still bare-chested, to take the creature's paw in his hand. And with a finger beneath the chin he lifted the other's face so that it would be forced to stare into his soothingly cool eyes. His words, no longer shouted, were gentle. "Jeron? The king? He told you to attack this place?"

The other's breath was coming at a frantic pace and the boy could feel his pulse coming at an equally rapid one, but he still managed to nod. "Well... to be 'onest, yur Honor, his kingship jest teld us all to come back 'ere and to keep the roads free of travelers and the like. 'Twas the sisters who teld us that t'd be better t' wreck the place." He nodded at the first two _a'ladon_, the ones upon the ground that had already fallen before the battle had even begun. "Ol' Nero and Kedar, they's tried to stop us. Guess big Jarriman didn't pass the word onto them, 'cause 'e killed 'em when they's started to argue with him."

The young human nodded, wisely. These men had acted out of terrible cowardice, obeying the most depraved of orders to save their own wretched lives, but he could hardly wish them dead simply for cowardice. The evil of the 'witches' that this one had mentioned and the one called 'Jarriman' (who T.K. presumed was the massive leader of this band)... that would be another story entirely.

T.K. stood and pulled the creature to his feet by the fur of his collar. And the _a'ladon _could not look at him, for he felt that he was, for the first time in his life, in the presence of true greatness. "Very well," the boy said calmly. "You have done evil but may still be forgiven. Now listen, and obey. You are to take these three others and find the Saurians that you have set loose in this valley and recapture them. Then you are all to leave this place, taking those who have been injured, and go to the crest of Mount Cypress. Take the long way, from the north, so that you never see your king again. At the peak of that mountain you will present yourselves in service to the sisters who guard the holy temple there."

"It will be hard on the six of you. Indeed, once you arrive you may become ill. But stand fast, because your illness will not last. As your sin falls from you, so will the pain. And I charge you: Whatever the sisters ask of you, that is what you will do. You will work, and will hold nothing back. It may be in time that you will meet in that place one who is called Cheyne. If you should, speak with him. Listen to him, and let him be your guide."

The other was still trembling but seemed almost hypnotized by the boy's tone and words. His mouth hung open. "You... yore not goin' ta punish us, Lord Takeru?"

The boy smiled gently. He could not hate something that was not evil, and there was no real evil here. "It is not for me to punish you," he said, shaking his head, "but it may be for me to forgive and to bless you. But after I forgive, no longer may you call me 'Lord'. If you should meet Cheyne, ask him of the Truth. Tell him that I have told you to ask of it. Ask him... ask him to tell you of the first Paragon, our Most High. And He is the one that you will call 'Lord'."

And T.K. could see the words sink in to the creature's consciousness... could almost see it as if the words were a tangible thing, and then he spoke to the other two who were still awake and, between them, picked up the third and turned to leave. And the boy felt a great weight lifted off of him as they went, somehow knowing that what he had just done had been perhaps the best thing that he had ever done in his entire life. He had fought against evil and carried the banner of good for such a long time... yet those few simple words had a power even greater still in them. They would, in time, change this world for the better long after everything else that he had ever done had been forgotten. Just a few... simple... words...

And then the boy turned back to the others. The Valley children. Eloan. Ailora. Kiara. And Shay. And as each looked at him, each had a different expression on his or her face. T.K. could only take in a few. Eloan looked happy, knowing in his heart that great good had been done here. Kiara looked proud, nodding in satisfaction that T.K. had come through as she knew that he would. Shay... Shay looked angry, furious almost, digging the point of one of his swords into the ground, though T.K. was almost certain that the boy's anger was not directed at him. And Ailora...?

T.K. had a hard time recognizing the look on the girl's face, though it struck him as one that should have seemed quite familiar. At the very least, it did not seem like anger. The boy had, the entire time, been afraid that the awkward silence from the girl had meant that she didn't appreciate his arrival in her world. For some reason, the look she was giving him put him in the mind of Kari when she was satisfied that he'd done well.

He smiled. Well, whatever it was that she was feeling, she could hardly have picked a better one to emulate...


	4. Moya's Treachery

"How is he?"

Kiara glanced over her shoulder at the gentle sound of T.K.'s voice, leaving the damp cloth on the forehead of the fallen _a'ladon _soldier. She dried her hands on the hem of her skirt thoughtfully, and shook her head slowly by way of answer. For while she was very learned and very wise she was no doctor, and did not have the skill to make anything more than a guess at this point. The gaping lesion that had been cut in the center of his back was deep, but to her eyes had not damaged anything that was absolutely essential for him to live. His partner, however, had not been so lucky. He had already been long dead before the battle had even ended.

The woman closed her eyes wearily and allowed the younger human's arms to enfold her, leaning her cheek against T.K.'s chest. Since the battle had ended she had been working nonstop trying to repair the damage that the sudden, unprovoked attack had done to her little village. It was tiring work for the woman, who was having to deal with far too little sleep the night before as it was.

Kiara was comforted by the feeling of T.K.'s strong, hairless arms around her shoulders. But then, by way of explanation to the boy, picked up a large wooden bowl on the stand beside the bed and showed it to him. Inside was a very bloody, very putrid smelling rag. He had wondered where the smell had been coming from. It was almost making him nauseous. The young human glanced at it once, then looked back down to her. "Poisoned?"

She nodded. "It's called Brown Clover, Tekay, but don't let the innocent name fool you. It's horrid, vile stuff. Almost always lethal, and vicious in the ways that it attacks the body. But I'm thinking he'll live, if only because it's not the type of poison one would normally use to coat a weapon. It loses a lot of its kick when it's exposed to the air for too long. If I had to guess, I'd say that whoever tried to kill him didn't really know what they were doing."

"He'll be okay then?"

The woman exhaled a quiet sigh. "I didn't say that. I think he'll probably live, but he won't ever be the same. I've gotten most of the poison out of his system, but some of it had already seeped into his bones. He's going to be in a lot of pain for as long as he survives, though whether that's one day or one thousand I couldn't even guess. Chances are good that he'll never walk again."

T.K. looked grim. The woman adjusted the moist cloth on the soldier's head. "I was able to deaden his hurt for a while by having Eloan play _Great Peace_ over him... you remember the song?" T.K. nodded, the memory of T'Kai's soothing lullaby being quite prominent in his memories of that time. Kiara had sung the words to complete the melody so as to ease Davis' pain when he'd been struck blind by the Saurian. The other boy had later told him that it wasn't really that the pain had disappeared, but rather that he had just been separated from it for a bit. "But that's really only going to give him a more peaceful sleep. When it wears off... I'm afraid that his hurt will be bad."

The boy reached down and touched her cheek gently. "Be strong, Kiara. Do what you can, then try to get some rest. Eloan's little friend Delia already said she'd watch him for a while if you needed a break."

Kiara smiled. "Delia has a very big heart, Tekay, but I'm afraid she'd make no great nurse. Faints at the very sight of blood."

T.K. took the woman by the paw and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, Kiara. She may be no nurse, but she's got enough sense to wake you if you're needed. And you can't help him if you're falling asleep while you're watching him."

The other allowed herself, reluctantly it seemed, to be led from the room. Just on the other side of the door, Eloan was playing a gentle little serenade for Delia on the small fife dangling from his neck. A fire burned on the other side of the room where Ailora and Shay sat in animated discussion, the boy having removed the armor that he had donned for the battle and set his weapons to the side. Though he was still wearing the helmet and kilt, T.K. noticed. He wanted to have a word with that one. But first...

"Delia?" the young human asked, interrupting Eloan's song. The girl turned to him. T.K. smiled. "Sorry to interrupt. Can you watch over him," he nodded to the open door, "while Kiara rests for a bit?"

The red-haired girl leapt to her feet enthusiastically and gave a cute sort of curtsey to the two of them as she scurried inside the room, her patchwork dress swirling around her legs as she went. T.K. nodded and marched Kiara down the hallway, away from the room and the reddish glow of the fire. "Now go lay down, Kiara," T.K. ordered, opening the door to her room. "And try to get some sleep. I mean it."

"Tekay," she chided softly, the faintest glimmer of a warm smile behind her eyes. "You shouldn't speak to me like that. I'm older than you."

T.K. grinned back at her. "Yes, but I'm bigger than _you _and I love you too much to let you do this to yourself. So if I have to take you in there and sit on you 'til you promise to get some sleep, I guess that's the way it will have to be."

Kiara gave a mock sigh, thankful to have someone around to make her do what she knew to be necessary. "Oh, very well Tekay. Since you put it that way, I suppose that I don't have much of a choice." She glanced over her shoulder for a moment, then lowered her voice to a furtive whisper. "But please look in on Delia from time to time. More than any, I would not see her come to any grief."

The boy turned and looked over his shoulder to where Eloan sat, himself peeking inside the slightly ajar door as if watching over Delia while she watched over the fallen soldier. He turned back to Kiara and nodded, smiling. "I think I understand."

The woman looked at him curiously, the fond smile still on her lips. "You know, you're very wise for your age, Lord Takeru. I suppose that you would have to be, being what you are, but having you here again has reminded me of just how true that is." T.K. did not miss the fact that she had slipped back into addressing him as 'Lord'. "Those men outside, you would have had every right in the world to strike them all dead, you know. I'm afraid that I had not thought of any alternatives to doing that outside of simply releasing them to cause more mischief. But with that one harmless display of power and your words of peace, you not only spared their lives and saved us from any more harm by them, but you may very well have saved their souls in the process."

The young human, long used to modesty whether it was warranted or (as usually was the case) not, would have denied what she had said... until the utter reality of it came upon him. He had done more than even she knew. For he had, in his last words to the leader of that group, shared a gift and a truth that no _a'ladon _could ever possibly share with another. And so he nodded. "Yes... yes, I guess I did, Kiara. Now go. Get some sleep. I need to talk with the others for a bit and decide how we're going to go about this."

The woman nodded and, without another word, slipped wearily into her room. T.K. watched her go, then turned back to the younger group still in the common room. Even as he knew that he must stay for the time being and speak with them about all of this, the further delay galled him mightily. Now he had wasted two days here, with the promise of the remainder of this night still looming. For Kari's sake he knew that he must go as soon as possible, but for now he was needed. And if Eloan were destined to go with him, there was more that he needed to know.

He looked to the fire. But first, Shay. His proficiency during the battle had astounded, even startled, Kiara's family. And now he had become cold and moody, trying his best to avoid any conversation with any of the others... though each of the three had taken turns badgering him on one point or another. Now T.K. himself would have to take a turn.

The young human seated himself between the pair, the reddish glow of the firelight reflecting on his smooth skin. There was a moment of silence, then T.K. looked to Ailora. Somewhere in the back on his mind, he wondered what she looking at him like that for and who it reminded him of. Kari, almost, though he wasn't sure why. He wondered if perhaps the parallel between their names portended an even deeper connection.

"Ailora, I wonder if you could do me a favor?" he asked, leaning close to the girl. At his nearness, the girl's eyes grew wide and she trembled as she nodded a 'yes'. "Could you stay with Delia for me while she watches? Your mother already told me she's afraid of blood."

"Of... of course," the other stammered, almost leaping to her feet at once in her haste to do so. T.K. managed to keep the frown off of his face. _Eager to please, or just anxious to get away?_

In any event she did go quickly to fulfill the charge, and T.K. watched her go and did not speak again until she was in the other room and safely out of earshot. When she was, he turned back to Shay. The silver-haired boy was staring into the fire, his eyes vague and his brow furrowed as if lost in deep thought. And through that focused state he managed to display a great deal of anger and sadness. His dark mood had been enough to alarm Kiara earlier in the evening. Before this, she had told T.K., he had been the most carefree and impishly charming boy that one would ever hope to meet.

"Alright, now she's gone Shay," T.K. said seriously. "You won't talk about it with any of them around, so now it's just us. Will you tell me what this is all about?"

There was a long period of silence, during which Shay just continued to stare into the fire. Every now and then a burning ember popped from the blaze and crackled harmless to the stone floor at the young creature's feet. When it appeared that his cold silence wouldn't deter the other's question, he managed a perfunctory glance over at the human. "Don't you know? Aren't you supposed to be omniscient or something?"

T.K. frowned in a chastising manner at the boy . "Kiara would've already told you that's not true. Now tell. What is it that you've been trying to hide from them? That you've been taught to fight? That you're not really what you were trying to look like? Or that you come from a wealthy family?"

The boy turned on him, his eyes dark, and T.K. knew that he had hit close to the mark. "You can't hide this from me, Shay. I've been around a great many of your people over a very long period of time. Longer than you can imagine. That armor that you wore and those swords that you were swinging around out there must have cost a great deal. The armor was made to fit you perfectly, and you've obviously used the swords before, so you didn't steal them. I'm not omniscient, but I'm not stupid either. The others will eventually come to the same conclusion, so you might as well tell now."

Shay closed his eyes in evident regret. He was right. All these years of hiding beneath the facade of a wayward child and acting just as he had wished, gone in less than a day. And not when he would have chosen, either. But the attack on the village... that was something that he could not have foreseen. The only thought that had crossed his mind when Takeru had said that they were under attack was protecting her... them. The clothes and weapons that identified him as who he really was were secreted away in a cave a very short distance away. The children of the valley probably passed by it a hundred times each day, but would easily miss it if they didn't know what they were looking for. It had been really a very simple matter for him to fetch them in time to turn the tide of the battle.

"Promise that you won't tell her... them, first."

"I won't, Shay. That's up to you, though as I said they're likely enough to figure it out sooner or later anyway. But you know something about this, something that I have to know. The life of someone that I love very much is in the balance here. I saw your anger about what the other _a'ladon _had said."

And then, as if conjured up by the human's words, the angry scowl was back in the boy's eyes again. "Very well then," he snapped. "Ailora had told me... repeatedly, I might add... that you will never break your word. Yes, my family is rich. Very rich. And yes, I've been taught to fight. Taught by the very best instructors that money can by." His tone was bitterly sarcastic and he seemed to be getting more angry as he went on, as if the wealth was something that he resented. "And as for why I'm angry..." The boy trailed off, biting his words off at the lip and apparently giving thought as to whether or not he should continue.

But that had been enough for T.K.. After what he'd learned from Kiara he'd had a suspicion gnawing at him anyway, a suspicion made all the more certain that he had met the boy before. "You heard the others say that this is your father's fault. You don't want to believe it... or do believe it and are angry about it... and you're worried about him going into Cypress."

Shay stared closely but silently at the human. His brow furrowed with uncertainty. "_Are _you omniscient?"

T.K. shook his head. "I've seen him before, Shay. When I was here last, and he was much younger. You must favor your mother, but there is something about your eyes that very much resembles his." He paused, something else bothering him. He wasn't certain that it was important to all that was happening, but perhaps it was. "Shay, I have to ask you something else. The coloring of your fur. Is that some sort of trait from your mother? Because the only time that I've ever seen that color on an _a'ladon _was when Eloan and Ailora's father was transfigured and left his earthly body behind in favor of its divine form."

Shay allowed some of his pent up anger to fall in favor of a small, a very small, smile. "Gives me away faster than anything, this does," he said, stroking the fur on his arm. "And no, there's nothing divine about it or me... especially me. My mother's people come from the extreme northwestern parts of our land, and both my coloring and this," he tugged at the hem of his kilt, "come from her people."

T.K. nodded, about to ask after the boy's father, when he felt the footfalls at his back. He turned, catching Eloan approaching the two of them with a sheepish grin on his face. When the two gave the boy a pair of questioning looks, the smile became even bigger and more sheepish. "Ailora kicked me out. Said I was making too much noise 'showing off' with these," he indicated the wooden flute around his neck," and distracting Delia."

Shay nodded. "Well you probably were, and you know you don't have to try to impress her. For some reason she seems to like you anyway."

Eloan coughed with an awkward attempt to switch the subject. "What were you two talking about? Anything important?"

T.K. looked to Shay to answer, hoping that the boy would be forthcoming to his friend... hopes which proved to be sadly unfounded. "No," he answered shortly. "But now that you're here, I guess we can." He looked over to T.K. "When were we planning to leave? Soon, I hope?"

T.K. was hesitant to answer, torn between two responsibilities. He knew that he had to set off, and soon, to prevent the unspeakable disaster that was about to occur. Indeed, he may have already wasted too much time. On the other hand, he was sorely needed here. It galled him to think that the two _a'ladon _raiders who had escaped were waiting for the village to be left defenseless to attack again... though that was by no means a certainty.

He also looked at the two boys. First to Eloan, then to Shay. Eloan, though he had won the day for them in the end, had frozen up terribly during the fight. He was clearly not ready for what lay ahead of them, which almost certainly would include more fighting. But then, T'Kai had already given his blessing to the boy to go on the journey... and he was in a much better position than T.K. was to judge his son's worthiness to help.

Shay was as much a problem. Not for his lack of skills, as he clearly had an abundance, but rather for a questionable motive. He had already confessed to Kiara that his interest in the battle was different than T.K.'s, but what was it? Did he want to stop his father Jeron, or to join him?

T.K. was becoming overwhelmed, and felt the eyes of the boys on him. "Tomorrow morning," he answered, his head in his hands. He knew that he might be making several wrong choices, but could do nothing about it. As he had once mentioned to Kari, he again felt that he was forced into making a wrong decision simply because there was no right one. And just waiting here certainly wasn't going to put either Kari or Kiara out of danger.

With satisfaction, the young human watched as both of the _a'ladon _boys received this news not with happiness, but with stoic acceptance. He had (unconsciously like Kiara before him) been worried that either or perhaps both of the pair might look on his journey as a chance for entertainment instead of the deadly serious undertaking that it was. But evidently he need not have worried. Neither of the boys looked as though they anticipated there being anything fun about what they had committed themselves to do.

"You both heard what I told Kiara yesterday? What I'm walking into? That if we're not fast enough, I could well be going there to fight against D'assan again?"

Shay looked determined. "That _thing _doesn't scare me, Takeru," he said with utter sincerity.

T.K.'s face was almost emotionless. "He should, Shay, and if it should come to that, he will. You simply can't come face to face with a demon without being frightened of it. No one can. I've fought against them before, and each of those times there was very little that I wouldn't have given to be allowed to run away instead of stand and fight. You saw what happened to that soldier outside when I was threatening them. That one who was throwing up and ended up passing out from fear? That's what happens to those who face against a demon without conviction. I've seen the terror that those things can cause actually kill people before..."

Eloan looked concerned, but Shay was smiling grimly. He stood, pushing his sliver helmet forward to where his eyes were staring at T.K. from just beneath its brim. "_I_ have conviction. And if Jeron can face it down, so can I," he said darkly, then moved towards the stairs. T.K. did not miss the message behind the words that was veiled from Eloan. "I'm gonna get some sleep. If we're in that big of a hurry, best to start off as early as we can tomorrow." 

************ 

Kari woke early the next morning and tiptoed to the window just in time to see the orangish sun peak over the horizon and begin to once again try to fight its way through the murky fog that enshrouded the city. Despite everything that was happening, Kari was still feeling positive. The room that she and the digimon had been given to stay in was very comfortable, bordering on luxurious. The bed was soft and was large enough to accommodate all three of them, despite having been designed for _a'ladon _and not humans.

Kari grinned at the sight of Gatomon and Patamon sleeping side-by-side, Patamon's long ear draped protectively over the little feline and she unconsciously snuggling in it. She wished she'd had her camera.

Moya had been gracious the night before, providing the girl with every comfort and courtesy. The meal that she had been served had been fit for a queen... or perhaps a goddess, the girl mused, and she had learned much about what had happened since she and T.K. had departed the last time. Though, disappointingly, no one had been able to provide even a guess as to where the boy might be now.

She had learned that there was once again a king on the throne of the _a'ladon_, and his name was Jeron... a name that the girl thought sounded disturbingly familiar, if she was unsure just why. And she had heard a rumor (which Moya would not comment on) that the king's son Shay should be here in this very house but had apparently 'run off again'.

But despite her positive mood, something was still bothering the girl... like an itch that she could almost scratch but just kept barely missing. It wasn't that she didn't feel welcome, because after all, Moya and the staff of the house had been almost tripping over one another to cater to her every wish, no matter how much she begged them not to.

Perhaps it was Gatomon and the Crest of Light. Both of them seemed quite uncomfortable here, as if both could sense a kind of calamity building just below the surface and ready to explode at any moment. Gatomon was, by her very nature, a rather cagey creature and never took anything at face value. But to have her Crest, even subdued as it was by the gloom of the city, alerting her to the same... that was something else altogether.

Kari wanted to be off. Standing by the window as the morning sun struggled against the darkness, she leaned against the sill. "Where are you?" she mouthed silently, sending the unspoken words off to T.K. as she pressed her hand flat against the glass.

She closed her eyes, needing to see his face again. And behind her eyelids she still could... smiling with a kindness and affection towards her that made her whole body glow with a kind of warmth. It was as though he was right there with her, that if she could just reach out to him she could take his hand in hers and everything would be well. "Oh, _T.K., _" she once again murmured silently. "Why did you have to go? Why couldn't you tell me?"

She knew how he would look if he'd been there to answer. In her mind, she could see the hangdog expression on his face as his eyes turned downward to avoid hers. And she'd laugh, and hold his hand, and then everything would be all right again. At seeing him so easily flustered, no one would ever mistake him for the holy hero that he truly was... because, after all, heroes just didn't look like that, did they?

Kari smoothed the sides of the sheer gown that she'd been given to wear to bed against her hips. She, too, might have thought like that when she was younger and when she hadn't known him as well. T.K. just didn't look like a hero should. He wasn't six and a half feet tall, a great mass of pure muscle with an expertise in the martial arts. He was still just a boy. A bit on the skinny side, straw-blond hair that he could never seem to keep out of his eyes for more than two minutes at a time and conversationally awkward almost to a fault. Plain. No. The world would never see a hero in T.K.

But she did, even if it wasn't the same one that his enemies might see. Heaven had done that much very well. Disguising greatness beneath a shroud of humility. She smiled. A bit like the biblical Christ in that way, though T.K. would have been genuinely humbled (and more likely quite uncomfortable) to have her even think of such a comparison.

She almost chuckled. She was in love with Clark Kent.

"We'll find him, Kari," Patamon murmured quietly at her back.

Kari blinked away from the vision of the boy, then turned to face his partner and caught him out of the air. Tightly she held him against her chest, resting her cheek against his head. After a moment of silence during which a tear fell from her eye onto his furry face, she nodded. "I know, Pata... I know. It just can't come soon enough." And the little creature did not miss the fact that Kari had adopted T.K.'s nickname for him as her own.

The girl looked back to Gatomon, still asleep on the bed. And in her sleep she looked so quiet, peaceful and unworried. Kari wondered if she herself had looked that way to T.K. when he had slipped into her room that night to say that he was leaving.

She wanted desperately to be off. Staying here, in this gloomy city and so far away from what she had come here to do was almost maddening to the girl. And yet, neither could she leave until she was certain that those poor _a'ladon _that she had saved the night before would not be bound into slavery. Apparently the decision was still in the hands of the girl Moya and though Kari was beginning to like her, there was still the fact that she had been willing to see them given over to the Saurians in the first place.

There came a gentle tap at the door. Gatomon was on crouched on three paws at once, the fourth paw drawn back over her shoulder in preparedness to strike. Patamon fluttered away from Kari and landed on the bed as the girl left her seat at the window, dried her eyes with the back of a sleeve, and went to answer the knock. On the way she patted Gatomon on the head, trying to calm the little creature. As much as she appreciated the other's split-second vigilance, she didn't feel as though it was really warranted at the moment.

A tall, thin young a'ladon stepped forward into the room at Kari's behest, bowing deeply from the waist. "Lady Hikari, I was bidden to invite you and the familiars to dine with Mistress Moya and some of the families of the men on whose behalf you had spoken last night. They have words of thanks and questions for you, if you are not too tired to do so."

Kari thanked the creature, saying that she would be down in a few moments. Having delivered her brief message the other left, missing the angry glare and bristling fur on the back of Gatomon at having been referred to as a 'familiar'. According to some human literature that she had read some months ago, such a term had evil connotations... though neither Kari nor Patamon seemed to have noticed.

The girl dressed quickly, anxious to have this over with. She decided that if she could only wring some sort of promise out of Moya that the _a'ladon _would not be turned over to the Saurian money-lenders, that alone would be enough for her. If not, and despite her anxiousness to be off... she would have to stay for as long as it took to do so. She considered it no less than her unavoidable duty... 

***** 

Downstairs, Moya had gathered with her a small contingent of the feasting party. These pathetic creatures had never seen, let alone been invited to eat, such a meal. And of those hundred or so that she had invited, she had handpicked three dozen women and children whom she judged to be the most desperate, pliable and subject to what she had planned. What she needed now was a very public, very violent crime to be committed by the Lady Hikari in front of a great number of witnesses. That was how she had decided to see this through, and had already worked out the details in her mind.

But even in their desperation, it would not be easy to convince this group... or any _a'ladon_, for that matter, to betray their goddess. And so as to cushion the possible lack of acumen on her part or a greater integrity on theirs, she also wove into her words a bit of the dark power that she and her sister had been granted in return for their help in this endeavor. Not much, and certainly not enough to tire her out, but just a pinch of black magic would be plenty to do the job.

"Very well then," she murmured soothingly, a drowsy sort of sensation accompanying her words. "Each of you have your assigned roles. Just remember, do your parts well and those husbands and fathers that all of you have seen imprisoned will soon be returned to you, their guilt assuaged and their debts paid in full by the Crown." But now the girl's voice became stern and the sleepy feeling became one of hunted fear. "Do them poorly or attempt to betray me, and there will be very severe consequences for each of you. And those consequences will not only be meted out to the traitor, but to each and every one of you who hears my words. So each of you had best keep an eye out to your neighbor."

And those that listened to the girl speak cowered beneath her eyes, fearing her threat and feeling the crushing weight of an even greater horror lingering over their heads at the moment. And though each of them, to an individual, felt horrid about what they were going to do, all also felt that it could not be avoided. Moya held all of their fates in her little black paws at the moment... to resist was to see all hope die. 

************ 

Jeron cowered in his tent, his breath coming in short, rapid gasps and his paws fidgeting together briskly. He had doubled the normal guard outside his tent and then, thinking better of it, had tripled it. He'd never been so scared in all of his life.

Lord Takeru had returned. The creature was after him to avenge the death of T'Kai all those years back, he was certain of it. Aine and Moya had told him as much several months ago, promising him that if the other should ever catch up to and lay hands on him again that it would mean his end. They had promised him such torments at _his _hands that the words alone had made him almost cringe in terror.

But at actually seeing him in Aine's vague dream-world, it had been all the worse. All of the imaginings that had plagued his nights since the sisters had warned him of Takeru's vengeance had seemed to enclose and envelope him in tangible fear at that moment, trying to smother the life out of him. And for one who had been afraid many times in his life, it struck in his soul a whole new height of terror.

Though he could hear the rapid panting of his own breath in his ears, he still couldn't seem to get enough air to fill his lungs. He desperately wanted to pass out or, failing that, to have the strength to call for Aine. But as much as he earnestly tried, he couldn't seem to make his own, weak voice call out for the girl, and some damned little glimmer of fortitude in his body kept him from passing out.

_The mountain... _came the sound of the wind whispering at the entrance to his tent. Jeron turned to look, then scampered away from the sound. And then he dove on his cot and under the covers, trembling there in fear until the rustling of his sheets echoed the whispering voice back at him again. _The mountain... king... safety..._

_Yes! _he thought in exultation as he thought he heard the word 'safety' whispered in his ear. Or perhaps his brain, he was never quite certain which. But it gave him hope that, whatever he was to do or find down there in the depths of Cypress, it would keep him safe from Takeru. The vague notion stood the monarch back on his feet where nothing else would and, if his hands continued to tremble, at least his teeth had stopped their continual chattering. It was _something _to cling to...

Jeron swayed on his feet for a moment, then straightened his back and adjusted his robe and crown to hopefully appear more regal. He was a terrible coward, yes, and moreso since having taken the throne, but he was no fool. He knew how to keep hold of such a chance.

"Guard!" he snapped, sticking his head outside his tent and addressing one of the young soldiers there. While this one and his counterpart actually seemed to be watching out for trouble, very few of the others were doing the same. They were lounging around in a circle a fair distance from the tent, a small fire built in their midst to keep the chill night air away as they laughed and chatted amongst themselves.

"Majesty," the young creature replied, bowing his head before the other. What Jeron did not realize that these two who had stayed at their posts had been specially selected by Kueren to guard him. They were the youngest of the group and really the only two who still held the monarch in any type of esteem at all. Though that too would likely disappear the longer that they were exposed to the words of the other, more experienced soldiers.

"Where is Kueren?" Jeron demanded.

"At the work site, sire. The entranceway has almost been completely cleared, and the Sergeant wanted to make certain that work was finished as soon as possible. He left word, if you should ask sire, that we should be able to enter as soon as the day breaks."

The king smiled wickedly, tapping his claws together with a thoughtful furrowing of his brow. _Good,_ he thought. "'When next I meet him my doom is at hand', indeed," he muttered scornfully, thinking back to the worried glances that Aine and Moya had shared as they prophesied his pending downfall. Now he knew why he had come to this mountain. To be safe from Takeru, of course. It was beginning to make perfect sense. The warnings from the girls. The nightmares. The voices in his head, telling him that it was where he had to be...

A foolish giggle escaped from the man's lips before he could catch it, and the two young guards looked closely at him. "Majesty?" the second queried.

"One of you go tell Kueren to get me in that mountain at daybreak or heads will roll," Jeron said, not looking at the two as he spoke and instead focusing on the larger group of his guardsmen gathered around the fire a short distance away. "And the other... go bring me some of whatever it is that those men are drinking."

**** 

Heads did not roll, as the fissure that gave entry into Mount Cypress was opened at daybreak as promised. Though Jeron was hardly in any condition to have anyone executed if it hadn't been. For while his kingly constitution was well trained to deal with excesses of the more tame vintages of his own private wine cellars, it proved no match for the thick spirits that his soldiers had been drinking. By the time the others were prepared to descend into the depths, Jeron was so heavily inebriated that he had to be literally carried from his tent.

Aine and Kueren had argued this point for some time, the girl insisting that the expedition begin at once and the sergeant countering that they could certainly wait for the king to sober up. But in the end and with much debate, Aine had won the day... since technically she did outrank him. And so the man rounded up the entire camp, perhaps two dozen a'ladon and the eight Saurian workers, and formed them into lines in front of the crumbling entranceway to the mountain. To bring Jeron inside with them he had formed a type of litter for the king to ride on, and this was toted along two of the larger lizard-people. The mounts that they had brought, the primitive Saurian beasts, were left tethered outside, still munching contentedly on whatever it was that such creatures ate.

Aine trailed behind the group, silently scoffing as the soldiers adjusted their armor and readied their weapons in anticipation of trouble. As if they had any idea what they were walking in to. And then she glanced back over her shoulder at the creatures they had left behind, and stared at them thoughtfully. After a quick check to make certain that none of the others were watching her, the girl grabbed a fistful of small, sweet-smelling granules from one of the pockets of her robe and tossed them in the direction of the creatures. She was satisfied to see the beasts start to gobble them up quickly, then turned and scampered off at the rear of the others. Let mighty Lord Takeru deal with that...

She had been in constant contact with her sister of course, though the two were a great distance apart. The spirit that bound them both was one, and that was really all that mattered. She knew of the other's plan to trap the Lady Hikari and to bring her to the designated meeting point far below the mountains on the far side of this great range. An she knew that Shay had vanished yet again, something that in ordinary times might have troubled her... but not now. They were only a short time away from their ultimate ambition, and she could spare no time to plot yet _another _death before this was all done.

The smoke from the burning torches that the soldiers had lit to illuminate the cave burned the girl's eyes and set her to coughing quietly. She silently thanked the spirit that had chosen the two of them to be part of all of this, the one that had promised such rich rewards. No longer would she have to be content with just being smarter than everyone else or having such meager magical powers. Why, just in the time that they had agreed to serve as vessels for the spirit look what it had already done for her! Only a few in the entire history of their race could claim to have held more power than she did now... and that was while their Master was still only a shadow in their land. When finally he was unleashed in his full glory and power, and when Lady Hikari had become his bride and supplemented his greatness with her own he would reward her again... and then, she would be as a goddess!

_A'ladon _men from all over would worship her! Would bow before her, catering to her every whim and desire. She would be kind to those who pleased her, terrible to those who did not, and nothing would be denied her ever again!

Glancing scornfully at Jeron, the girl removed a small cup from one of the bags at her waist and pulled a small pinch of herbs from another pouch. Crumbling them into the cup, she poured a few drops of liquid in after them and watched as the two mixed violently together, bubbling as an acrid smell rose from the little clay vessel. Damned fool, getting drunk at a time like this. The only one powerful enough to get into this mountain and at the same time foolish enough to think that something down here would save his life, and it just _had _to be him. Even as she looked at him she could still feel his grimy paws all over her body, and it disgusted her anew.

She could feel the giddiness of the foreign spirit residing within her body start to stir as she followed the procession through the dark and shadowy passageways of the huge granite monster. Above she thought she could feel the tremendous weight of the stone, many thousands of tons, groaning in resentment at their trespass... as if it knew what was to come and longed to stop their blasphemy. The Reverend Cheyne had set this mountain itself as one of the barriers to anyone doing what they were now attempting, and it seemed abashed at having failed at its duty.

"Give him this," Aine snapped to one of the Saurians, trooping alongside Jeron's makeshift throne with the end of one of the poles held tightly within his scaly claw. The creature looked down at the girl with a bored look of indifference on his stupid face, the took the cup that she had thrust at him and forwarded it on to the king. Jeron, in turn, looked at it with the face of one buried well beneath the blanket of a drunken stupor, then took the concoction and downed it in one turn.

Jeron spat and sputtered at the foul taste of the drink, hurling the clay cup away into the darkness and swearing loudly enough to wake any demon that might be slumbering away in these caverns. "Gods!" he swore, wiping a paw across his mouth and continuing to gag like a child who has just been forced to eat something that he doesn't like. "Poison! Pollution! Hoi, Aine! Next time, have some rancid milk along with you to get the taste out of my mouth, girl!"

The girl slipped in between two of the Saurian porters, lifting her black, velvety robes off the ground to keep them from being trod on. "Grow up!" she hissed, pulling her cowl back and focusing on her king with fury in her eyes. "What do you mean, getting drunk at a time like this? You think fate is going to smile down and save your miserable hide?"

The king looked away for a moment, then turned back to her with a stupid grin on his face. Aine's teeth snapped together in anger and she whirled away from him, stomping back to her place at the rear of the procession. Even now the tunnel was sloping downward, the heat surrounding them becoming more and more oppressive. The time would soon be at hand for him to do what she needed him to do, and now she had to wait for the herbs to do their job and sober him up!

Jeron, for his part, continued to smile stupidly at the girl, Takeru and his own prophesied death far out of mind. How charming she was. A little girl, playing her little game. Mischievous. Spunky. Acting all grown-up and in charge. He decided at that moment that he liked her better than Moya, if only for her vigor. "Better in bed, too," he murmured stupidly, his head still lolling about and watching the shiny black robe lick around at the girl's ankles. It was good to be the king... 

************

T.K. and the two _a'ladon _boys were up at daybreak the next morning. Of the three, only Shay had slept well. He was still flush with the bravado and overconfidence of his youth, and had managed to get through the night with neither the heavy concerns and responsibilities of T.K. nor the self-doubt that haunted Eloan. He was, of course, still concerned about his father, but he sensed a grand adventure in the offing and was really more anxious than afraid. This was no longer him practicing at being a warrior. Now, he would truly be put to the test.

Eloan hefted a rucksack filled with everything that his mother thought that he might need onto his small shoulders. T.K., despite knowing her, had still half expected to see Kiara stuffing the pack with items more useful on a peaceful camping trip than the hell that she was actually sending him into. But he was, in the end and once again, pleasantly surprised to find that she seemed to be completely prepared to acknowledge what they were about to do. She had girded one of the swords taken from the fallen _a'ladon _warriors on the boy herself.

Shay was dressed as he had been in the battle the day before, donning his chain habergeon, shiny yet unadorned helmet, kilt... and of course, the two deadly-looking blades dangling in their scabbards, one on each hip.

Ailora and Delia had come with Kiara to see the three off, with Delia's little brother Cian taking a turn watching the injured soldier inside the house. T.K. in particular watched Ailora, certain that the girl (at least, from what he had seen thus far) would not take well to having been left behind. Kiara had already mentioned in passing that she and Eloan had never, since their mutual births, been separated for more than an hour or so. And, of course, the girl was proving to be a bit handier in a fight than her brother... at least thus far.

But to her credit, the girl's only words were of good luck and a safe journey. And despite what T.K. had seen thus far since his return, that the girl was the far more adventurous of the two, never once did she seem jealous at having been left out of the party. Perhaps she had the best sense of all of them, the human boy thought ruefully and reminded of just how much danger he was leading these two boys into.

T.K. watched the five _a'ladon _quietly, his ties with the group not being as strong as those among themselves. Watched and listened to all that was said... as well as a great deal that was being left unsaid. Funny how he could notice things like that now. When he was younger, he'd been perhaps blissfully ignorant about how deep feelings between people could sometimes run and yet how difficult it was to express them. Growing up had changed all... well, some of that.

Of the three, he was worried most about Kiara. She had already lost her mate in one battle against D'assan, now she was sending her only son into the same danger. And she had seen the beast before and knew what kind of power it held, what kind of terror it inspired. He tried to imagine what it must have been like for her to allow the boy to go on just the word of the departed T'Kai... then found out that he really couldn't, never having faced the same situation himself. He knew that she trusted the fallen Paragon with everything that she was, but there were some things that even faith found it difficult to overcome.

But still she did not look worried. She was, of course, but she hid it well.

T.K. walked up behind the two boys and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "C'mon, you two," he murmured, softly and seriously and trying to keep the melancholia out of his voice. "If we don't start now, we never will."

Kiara stood between the two girls opposite the troop and nodded. "Of course."

Shay's eyes remained locked with Ailora's, and wordlessly he lifted up a single paw in a gesture of farewell. Ailora did the same, then reconsidered and moved her own paw forward until it was palm-to-palm with the boy's. They stayed that way for several moments and though neither spoke, there was significance enough in that gesture to make up for a thousand missing words of farewell.

Delia, for her part, was still sniffling quietly as she stood at Kiara's side. When T.K. and Kiara had both spoken to put an end to the parting of ways, her tears became less than silent as she leapt forward and threw her little arms around Eloan's neck, pulling his head down and squeezing him tightly. The boy, though, looked unready for the gesture and had his breath taken away by the suddenness and force of it and felt his little wooden reeds crushed against his chest. But Delia released him shortly thereafter and turned and fled back into the house, not once looking back. And though the door slammed at her rear, T.K. could still hear her furious weeping as her sorrow found a voice.

Kiara turned and watched as well, then looked back over her shoulder and nodded to the three. "Take care of my boys, Lord Takeru," she said simply, bravely, then followed the forlorn Delia back into the house.

Shay and Ailora let their paws drop at the same moment, then the girl looked over to her brother. "Pop him once for me, 'k 'loan?" she grinned.

"I promise, 'lora."

And then Eloan and T.K. had to turn and scramble off quickly to catch up with Shay who, having said his farewells, had already set off on a brisk pace as the morning sun just started to peak over the crest of the smaller mountain range to the east. It was not exactly a trot, not as steady as a march, but it was clear to all that the boy wanted to waste no time in beginning their journey.

And still, as the three became smaller and smaller as they traveled down the great road that led to Mount Cypress, Ailora watched. Watched until they were out of sight, then watched still as creases of concentration appeared on her forehead. And she heard a voice in her head, one that had been gabbing at her for several hours now...

_Well, I did promise to serve Lord Takeru if he ever came back again... and Eloan's just not ready to fight... Shay will cause some kind of mischief if someone doesn't keep an eye on him..._

************ 

Moya licked her lips nervously as her 'guests' started to file in to the lavish dining room and began to take their assigned seats. Most of their eyes glazed over as they entered the room, stunned by an opulence the like of which none of them had ever seen before... and never would again, the girl thought with a sniffle. She almost cringed as the first of the peasants climbed into their chairs at her right side. Filthy yokels. Even while they had each dressed in what they considered their 'best clothes', it still looked to her to be an organized field trip from the nearest shantytown. Imagine, turning the third richest of all the royal mansions into a veritable soup kitchen. She made a mental note of have all of the cutlery and crockery burned and replaced after the meal.

Of the hundred or so in attendance, Moya had arraigned to have her conspirators scattered liberally throughout. She had guards posted at every entrance, guards whose weapons were well honed and who were well versed in their usage. This was unlikely to be concluded without a fight. Damn Hikari for bringing her familiars along with her, anyway!

On the underside of the chair that had been set aside for Lady Hikari, the one at the head of the table, Moya had already etched the pentagram that would serve as a portal for the relatively unimpressive demon that she intended to summon to set all of this off. The spirit that inhabited her had told her that the presence of such a creature anywhere in the goddess's vicinity would cause her magical talisman to become instantly and visibly active, and would thus serve as the cue for her chosen guests to begin playing their roles.

And after a few minutes when the rabble had finally (and mercifully) taken their seats, the young _a'ladon _that Moya had sent for the human girl led her and her creatures into the room. Many gasps of astonishment were heard as the peasants once again caught sight of their goddess, draped in a flowing and glimmering gown that held tightly to her sides and with her guardians marching at her side. Moya looked, then nodded in satisfaction. _Good. _The creature had brought the talisman of Light with her. She had been irrationally afraid that the other would not, causing much of her plan to go awry.

Moya looked on, a bit concerned to find that there was nary a dry eye at the table as each individual watched the figure of the human flow smoothly to her seat at the end of the table. Even most of those in her conspiracy were openly weeping, and she once again worried at having to use the fools. Just one of them changing their mind could upset this entire scenario.

Though it seemed forever, it was actually a very short time later when Hikari and her two companions took their seats at the end of the table next to Moya. The hairs on Gatomon's back still bristled at the nearness of the young magistrate, though even she was uncertain of just why. It wasn't the look of the girl, nor the smell, nor the feel that was wrong. It was just that she was certain that something... was.

Moya stood, her velvety robes falling about her as she rose, and tapped the side of her goblet with a spoon in order to silence the table. But in reality, with the exception of the muffled sounds of weeping coming from a few of the more emotional creatures in attendance, it could not have been more silent in that room as each and every eye stared down the length of the table to catch a better glimpse of the Lady Hikari. Their 'LightBringer'.

"I understand," Moya began, "that each of you is anxious to hear our Lady Hikari speak. And I am certain that, in her grace, she will. But first, let me welcome you all to the house of your king and bid you feast well at his table. Please eat and drink your fill, each of you, and afterwards we will hear from our guest of honor." And by way of closing, the girl gathered the robes about her body and sat down once again.

With that signal, the doors opened and a veritable army of servants entered the room, each bearing a dish that he been specifically concocted for this occasion. At Kari's side, Gatomon continued to fidget nervously, even as her stomach continued to snap angrily at her for not paying less attention to her nerves and more to the feast that even now was being set before her. But even the greatly desired food would not calm her at this moment, and she continued to want desperately to lash out at whatever it was that was making her feel this way... to seek it out and bring it to battle.

She glanced furtively to the side. Patamon, for his part, didn't look worried in the least. Or if he did, his main worry at the moment seemed to be that the steaming fish that had been set on the plate in front of him would grow legs and attempt to walk away before he had a chance to tackle it. She was almost angry at him, not feeling the concern that she did.

And then the little feline looked across the table to the _a'ladon _Moya. The girl was clearly nervous about something, toying with the hem of her garment as she was and her eyes shifting from side to side as if she were waiting for something to happen. And though the magistrate's paw was placed strategically in front of her mouth, Gatomon was certain that the girl was whispering something to herself in a quiet, sing-song fashion. It made her all the more edgy.

And then, just as Gatomon watched Kari put her fork to meal, the hell that she had been privately anticipating quite literally broke loose.

The crest of Light, resting against the girl's chest, quite suddenly and unexpectedly flared into life with a violence that Gatomon had never witnessed before. Nor Kari either, it seemed, as the girl stood up in alarm and confusion and clutched at the pink talisman while staring at it with brown eyes wide open. Explosive flashes and angry, heated light flared repeatedly from the surface of the item, engulfing the girl and illuminating the room with a display of pyrotechnics brilliant enough for any celebration.

Pandemonium instantly ensued, as Moya tumbled out of her chair and fell to the floor, moaning in (what Gatomon took to be theatrical) agony. The demon prompting her from inside knew, better than any, that the explosive bursts from Kari's talisman would be harmless to his chosen vessel. That Crest, unlike the boy's, was not really a weapon... it simply existed as a safeguard for the girl. Still, he was wary enough not to attempt to have his present host be the one to seize her.

Kari could only manage a quick glance at the fallen Moya as she clasped the talisman tightly within her fist. Now the spirit of the crest was in her mind again, forcing fast and angry warning impressions upon her...

_Danger... Betrayal! The Fallen!_

The girl reeled away for a moment, feeling faint as the spirit within the Crest once again overwhelmed her with its violent and insistent demand for her attention. She simply couldn't process all the information that it piled upon her so quickly. Danger...? Where...?

Now Gatomon watched as several more _a'ladon _in the room cried out and fell, moaning, to the floor. And she could hear one of them on the opposite side of the room whimper loudly, "No! No more, Lady Hikari!. Send it... send it away, I beg of you!" and wave its paws frantically in front of its face.

Gatomon looked, but could see nothing to frighten the creature. But now the squirrel-like child directly to her right gave a scream and scampered away from the table and hid behind a tall, marble pillar. And, as near as she was, Gatomon could see that there was mischief on that one's face. He was not truly frightened, but rather acting out a role. Doing it rather well, yes, but still pretending. And then he gave another screech and called out to Kari, "Please... please m'lady! What did I do to anger you? Why are you mad at me?"

_Scripted, _Gatomon was now certain, but as she turned she found that there were no less than twenty _a'ladon _(mostly women or children) in similar straits of 'misery'. And Kari still looked to be in a sort of daze, staggering backwards with the explosive glare of the Crest of Light still clutched tightly within her hand.

"Lady Hikari!" Moya shouted insistently, on her feet again and holding both paw up defensively towards the girl, who was clearly in no shape to respond. "Lady Hikari, please stop this!" And now each of the _a'ladon _in the room was either cowering away from the human girl in fear or attending to one who was.

The screeches were filling Gatomon's ears, some more convincing than others, but all directed at Kari and Kari alone. Patamon, for his part, looked confused and in a bit of pain as the all of the shrieking assailed his quite excellent sense of hearing. But it was clear that he had not yet come to the same conclusion that she had.

This was a hoax of one sort or another. Gatomon was about to act, to get Kari to safety, when she heard Moya cry out once again. "Lady Hikari, stop! Witchcraft of any sort is forbidden in our lands! In the name of the king, I order you to stop all of this at once!"

_So that's it, _the little feline thought, watching perhaps a dozen guards start to pour into the room from the nearby doors, each of them with a spear at the ready. This was all some kind of setup.

Gatomon vaulted over the table with ease, landing on Kari's chair and drawing back one gloved claw to strike at any who might seek to do the girl harm. The little feline was quite ready to take on each and every one of the guards that were rushing at her partner, when out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Moya whispering to herself and gesturing at the chair on which she herself was perched.

Gatomon yelped as she felt the icy grip of a skeletal claw reach from beneath the chair and attach itself to her leg, yanking furiously in an attempt to dislodge her. She looked down and saw the black, bony appendage holding on just above her ankle, and though it looked to be quite frail, she found that its grasp was like the grip of death itself. She was shaken violently and about to fall when she called out, "Patamon! Help Kari!"

But the call came an instant too late. For at that very moment Patamon, still overwhelmed by the chaos and confusion in the room, had been taken from behind by a pair of the _a'ladon _guards and been shoved, struggling, into a brown, burlap bag. Gatomon was horrified at the sight and slashed repeatedly at the arm of the creature that was trying to drag her away from the betrayal, desperate to get to Kari's side. But the strength of the thing was beyond hers, and in a moment had dragged her beneath the table and much too far away to help the human girl.

Now one of the _a'ladon _guards, shielding his eyes from the explosive brilliance of the Crest in Kari's fist, crept up behind the girl and delivered a savage blow to the back of her head with the butt of the spear in his hands. The human girl did not even have the chance to cry out as the weapon struck, knocking her to the floor and senseless at the same instant. And as she fell the light in her hands died and the 'terrified' _a'ladon _suddenly managed to regain some semblance of composure... all right on cue, of course.

Moya hid a smile as she brushed the dust from the floor off of her fine robes. That should do quite nicely. Now, in a few hours, the story that the Lady Hikari had attacked the innocent _a'ladon _with her 'witchcraft' would be spread through the city not only by those that she had corrupted, but by all hundred in attendance. She could, even now, see the genuinely horrified look in the eyes of the simple peasants.

But it was not over yet, of course. For even now, she heard somewhere from farther down the hall a shout. "Burn the witch!"

Moya stepped forward and pulled the Crest of Light from the still hand of the Lady Hikari, tossing it among the ruined and scattered crockery of the table. Where she was going, she would have no need of it.

And now others had picked up the cry, calling out to have the 'witch' burned. Not many, of course, but a few. A couple even who had not been swayed over to her side by the promise of freedom from their loved ones. It almost astonished her. Not one day ago these creatures had welcomed the creature back to their land and had sang in praise of her. Not an hour ago, every single one of their eyes had teared up at her presence. Now this. Not even those she had saved would speak out on her behalf...

But she would not be burned. Not yet, at least. What the devil lurking inside Moya's body wanted to do with the bitch once he had wed her was his own concern, and it might amuse him to eventually do something like that. But not until then. And not until she and Aine had gotten their reward.

Moya shook her head in mock consternation, and held up a hand to quiet the raucous crowd. "No!" she insisted as her guards bound Kari's hands behind her, dragging her limp body off in one direction and the bag that held the still struggling Patamon in the other. "No, no burning! We are a society of law, and do not resort to such barbaric or irresponsible acts. Despite all appearances, there may be a rational explanation for Hikari's acts here tonight!"

_Cue angry outburst here..._

"Rational, nothing!" a mother raged as she knelt by the side of her quivering son, the one that Gatomon had credited with being a half-decent actor. "She attacked my boy! For no reason! I demand justice!"

"And you will have it," Moya snapped back. "But I would not take it upon myself to be a judge for one such as Hikari. I will take her to our king, and he will decide what will happen to her. In all the land, only he dare make such a decision."

Moya could hear assorted grumbling by those whom she had not brought into her plan that justice for such a seemingly severe attack would not be meted out immediately. But on some faces she also saw confusion. Though they had never met the Lady Hikari before, all of the old legends had described her as entirely benevolent. The girl mentally shrugged off their concern. This entire scheme had been worked up simply as a way to have the 'goddess' removed from the city with little or no outcry. If these creatures eventually worked it out among themselves that the 'attack' had been none of Hikari's doing or if one of the fools that she'd had doing the acting for her eventually cracked and told the truth... by then it would be far too late. Truth was often a latecomer in such times.

For now, she would rest. The bride had been captured, and she and her familiars were going nowhere. And Moya needed to regain her strength in order to open another gate to where she would meet Aine and the groom. Opening the portal that had brought the little, unseen demon to this party had been extremely tiring, and she dared not attempt another gating so soon.

As the girl turned and started to leave the room by the same exit through which the guards had taken the unconscious Kari, she chanced to glance back over her shoulder at the table. The imp had taken the familiar that she had called 'Gatomon' underneath there. She wondered what the little demon had done with it. Eaten it, more than likely, she supposed, then exited through the gate and back to hell.

And the other. The Patamon. She'd have to remember to tell the guards to drown the thing in the river or beat it to death before she left. Assuming that they didn't have enough initiative to do something like that on their own.

She smiled evilly as the remainder of the guards filed the rest of her 'guests' out. That had been quick enough, and none of them had really gotten anything to eat after all. Perfect. Just like everything else thus far. Perfect. Hikari was captured, Aine was almost at D'assan's resting place and had managed to keep Jeron from getting himself killed yet. Takeru had been sufficiently delayed, and Aine had promised more for him to come. She calculated that, in another day or so, all of this would be completed and then... then would come their reward.

How gratifying that would be.


	5. Two Halves of the Whole

It had long since fallen silent in the great banquet room of the _a'ladon _when Gatomon, her flesh torn and her body broken from her struggle, finally succeeded in dragging herself out from underneath the table. The look on little feline's face was of one in a hazy stupor as she glanced back over her shoulder to make certain that the thing... whatever it was that had attacked her, was no longer at her back. And as she looked back into the darkness, she trembled. She, who had never once in her life acknowledged fear, trembled.

The vicious battle remained little more than a blur in her mind. She had been fighting nearly blind the entire time, and had managed to catch only the briefest of glances of her dark opponent. To her the thing had seemed to be made almost entirely of bone, with the only flesh to cover it a horribly stretched layer of jet-black skin that seemed to be almost impermeable even to her own vicious, dagger-like claws. The creature had had horns of a sort jetting out from the top of its skull that it had used with deadly efficiency and a long tail, barbed at the end, that had served it as well as any whip.

__

Kari, Gatomon thought weakly, glancing around the room for some clue as to where they would have taken her. And then, as she crawled the last few feet away from the table, she chanced to glimpse the underside of Kari's chair and there saw the pentagram that had been etched into the dark wood. And she nodded. Of course. A demon. Nothing else could have fought like that.

Gatomon's blood smeared on the floor as she pulled her limp body to rest against the stone wall opposite the table. It had let her go. She didn't know why, but she knew that she hadn't beaten it. She was almost as certain that she hadn't even hurt the evil thing, even after what had seemed like several hours of fighting. It was almost as if it had been toying with her, flogging her over and over again in ghoulish delight, but in the end it had simply left of its own accord.

She would have to leave quickly as well, though she was certain that she no longer had the strength to do so. She was not sure why Moya had betrayed Kari, but sooner or later it must certainly come into the creature's mind to come back here and check on her own corpse. The trail of blood that now stained the cobbled floor would tell her that this part of her plan, at least, had not succeeded. Not yet, at least.

And Patamon... poor little Pata. He had been taken entirely unaware. Her heart bled for him even as it broke for Kari. She'd have to find them. Find them both, and rescue them, wherever they were.

The little feline stood up on her rear paws, her back braced against the wall to keep her from falling. And as she stood she noticed a deep gash running across her middle, a gash from which continued to fall a steady amount of her own dark, red blood. She stared stupidly at it for a moment, her head swimming as she tried to make sense out of what she was seeing. And when she looked down at her arm and saw that it, too, continued to bleed, it struck her. The wound were not clotting of their own accord. She was not simply tired... she was bleeding to death.

Gatomon did not have time to wonder why this was happening, though if her thoughts had not been so addled by her weariness she certainly could have guessed. She needed to stop the bleeding, or at least slow it, as soon as possible. And so she staggered forward and caught hold of the edge of the rich, lacy tablecloth and began to tear jagged strips of it away with repeated slashes of her claws. These she bound tightly around the wounds at her belly, upper arm, and another that she found lower in her thigh.

After another moment or so to catch her breath she turned and staggered from the room, her head swimming as she noticed that her lacy dressings had quickly become soaked through with her dark blood. The bleeding had not stopped, only been slowed for a bit. But still, she had to find Kari. And Patamon. And get them all out of the city. She was forced to drop to all fours to walk as her balance failed her, and she realized with despair that, in her current condition, it was all that she could do to keep from passing out. She was certainly in no condition to rescue anyone...

************

T.K. and the two _a'ladon _boys trod steadily upon the winding path that led from the Valley toward the mountainous region that crested at the peak of Cypress. Shay was in the lead of the group, his sharp eyes darting from side to side in anticipation of trouble ahead. The silvery-haired lad at times ranged far ahead of the other two, scampering off the path or up the side of trees to get a better view when it suited him. T.K. would have almost thought that he was playing were it not for the deadly serious look on his face and the fact that he had already alerted them to the presence of an _ubbeth_ (which turned out to be something like a cross between a wolf and a small bear). The creature had not caused them any trouble, as Shay had simply led the other two out of its way and then back onto the trail.

Eloan was at the rear, his nose stuck in a small, leather-bound book that Kiara had given him at their parting. T.K. had learned that it had been a sort of journal that T'Kai had kept in the months and years before T.K. and Kari had arrived to help him on his quest. Inside, T.K. found not only more of the detailed charcoal drawings that had amazed him at first meeting the boy, but also a long list of songs... as well as a record of what (if any) magical effects those songs had had for him.

It was all a jumble for T.K., who (despite having a musician for a brother) had never really learned to read music. Eloan, on the other hand, was deeply enthralled in the pages and was busy trying to work out the combinations on the little wooden whistle dangling about his neck.

T.K. was about to interrupt Eloan, to ask him if he'd learned anything useful, when Shay came scurrying back down the trail to meet them.

The human boy stopped dead in his tracks, pulling his red-haired companion to a halt as well. "Shay?" he called out, his knuckles turning white as his fingers tightened around the weapon at his side. The young prince appeared to be quite alarmed, and that sort of air surrounding the normally unflappable boy was enough to cause him concern.

"Something's coming!" the other hissed in response, pulling off his backpack and tossing it into the woods at his side as he slid to a stop on the dusty trail, whipping the twin swords out of their sheaths at his waist.

Eloan looked alarmed. "Something? What?" he demanded, at the same time pulling his own backpack off and placing the book inside reverently, then sliding the pack out of the way as he drew his sword as well.

T.K.'s eyes continued to watch the trail ahead of them until it disappeared around a bend some fifty feet in front of them. When a moment passed without an answer from Shay, T.K. chanced a fleeting look over to the boy. "_Shay?_" he hissed. "What is it? What did you see?"

"I didn't see anything!" the prince retorted quickly. "I smell it. I hear it. I feel it..." He glanced back over his shoulder at Eloan, his furry nose twitching. "Use something besides your eyes, Eloan! That's a Saurian, or I'm a fool. But there's something wrong about it. Something... unnatural..."

The three stood on the road, T.K. shivering slightly with the cold but with adrenaline rushing in a deluge through his blood. He almost started to reach for the golden Crest of Hope around his neck, then stopped himself halfway. No. He could not use it in battle again, casting it into the form of Michael's great blade. Not unless he was willing to accept what it offered in a return to magnificence and a departure from all that he clung to as a mortal. If he was to stay here and live as such, he had to honor the restrictions that came with mortality. No divine weapons for him...

The wind was in their faces now, and Shay raised his nose. "_Where _are they?" he scowled, his handsome face screwing up in a grimace of impatience that told T.K. that the boy was losing his composure. At his other side Eloan, though anxious as well, looking to be weathering the tension much better than his friend. "I'm honored to be with you, now," he whispered to T.K.

And then there was a foul current of air at T.K.'s back, one that whistled just past his ear and caused the sigil of Hope resting against his chest to explode into brilliant life. T.K. clutched it in his fist to calm it, then heard _From the sky, fool! _whispered upon the passing wind. And then the dark odor was gone again, replaced by the clean, mountainous air that continued to blow in his face.

But the demon had warned him of enough, though he was still galled to be aided by the thing. His eyes turned skyward, and gave a shout to the others, "It's coming at us from above!"

The warning came just in time.

The two _a'ladon _boys dove away from T.K., and he in turn threw himself flat to the ground as the lizard-like creature rocketed past him, its long, bat-like wings nearly tearing his head from his shoulders as they swept by. The tailwind from the attack blew the dust from the road into the human boy's eyes before he managed to shut them, and he blinked rapidly to try to regain his sight as he lay flat upon the dusty trail.

__

"Flying?" Shay exclaimed, watching the creature that had just ambushed them, as well as another, circle like vultures in the sky above them. "How did that thing grow _wings_?"

Eloan had mounted a small outcropping of rock on the mountain face to his left and was straining his eyes to get a better look at the pair. He, too, had never heard of any of the lizard-folk having the ability to take to the skies. These two looked to be of the four-legged, primitive race of the creatures from what he could see, though their necks had seemed to him to be awkwardly stretched out and away from their bodies.

The boy's paw was on the sword hilt at his side as he cagily watched the pair circle above them. It seemed to him (who had spent many restful hours watching birds in flight) that they were flying rather awkwardly, as if this was something that was new to them. But, awkward or not, they were clearly bent on not letting the trio of adventurers beneath them escape without a fight.

And then the pair each fell into an identical dive, their wings spread wide to catch the air currents that were coming off of the mountain to slow their descent. Shay whirled one of his swords in his paw while holding the other straight out in front of him. "All right!" the boy shouted defiantly up at the pair. "Come on, then!"

The creature on the right peeled off before it hit the ground to answer Shay's shouted challenge, soaring past him at a breakneck speed with claws outstretched to grab the boy. As it neared, Shay swung his first blade, then his second, at the creature's scaly hide with a shouted cry of _'Goring Gambit!'_. The first blow landed upon the hard scales of the Saurian's breast and did no damage. But the second of the weapons found its way to a tender area in one of the other's four clawed feet, and managed to sever one of its cruelly hooked talons.

The Saurian screamed in pain and swept past the boy, its shoulder glancing off of his own and combining with the force of the wind to throw him back and to the ground. Shay bounced once, rolled a few times, and then came to a skidding halt in the center of the path. But despite the fierce blow, he had still managed to hold on to both of his weapons... the second of which now had a thin line of blood running down the blade.

T.K. gripped his staff in frustration, watching as the Saurian soared over his head with impunity. How he wished he had Pegasusmon here with him right now! Again the Crest of Hope warmed within his hand, reminding the boy that with its power he could most certainly strike both attackers from the sky. And again, with a steadfast stubbornness, the boy ignored the whisper in his ear.

Eloan stood calmly on top of the small outcropping of rock. He had placed his sword back into its sheath and now held the musical reeds to his lips with both of his paws. T.K. could see that the boy's eyes were closed in concentration as his fingers danced lightly along the air-holes on his little instrument. He was not blowing, just running his fingers along the reeds as if trying to get the combination of notes right before he actually played them. And the human boy was alarmed to see that his counterpart was apparently unaware of the flying Saurian bearing down upon him from above.

"Eloan! Above you!" he shouted into the wind.

There was no response, as the boy continued to stand calmly upon his perch and concentrate on whatever it was that he was doing. The Saurian was almost on top of him now. "Eloan, get down!" T.K. demanded once again. And once again, his call went ignored.

"No!" T.K. shouted as the Saurian opened up its claws and reached down for the _a'ladon _child. The human boy reversed his grip on his staff and hurled it like a blunt spear at the lizard-like creature, but it was badly thrown and into the wind and fell well short of its mark. "Eloan! Listen to me!"

And then Eloan's eyes did blink open, and he blew a short, low-pitched series of notes from the reeds clasped tightly in his hands. Slow, heavy notes that seemed to permeate and thicken the very air around all of them. The Crest of Hope around T.K.'s neck glowed in defiance of the music's inferior power, leaving the human free to move around as he wished. But the Saurian now realized that his wings no longer had the lift in them that they'd had before, and was unable to check his freefall as Eloan (unencumbered, of course, by the effects of his own magic) threw himself off the outcropping and to the trail below.

With a sickening, bone-shattering collision, the Saurian slammed headfirst into the ledge on which Eloan had been standing, chips of rock exploding in every direction and the green creature's broken body tumbling limply to the ground. A small shower of stony debris then crumbled down on top of the winged lizard, effectively burying it.

Further up the trail, Shay had regained his feet and was just holding the other Saurian at bay. For he could not, of course, challenge the creature up in the sky. He had to wait for it to come and attack him before he could even attempt to engage his winged opponent.

The stupid creature circled above his prey for sometime, trying to determine a way to get at the tasty little morsel without suffering any more damage from the vicious blades still held in the other's paws. But it was, of course, no great thinker and after a moment allowed the stabbing hunger from its stomach to prevail over the fear of the _a'ladon _boy's keen weapons and circled once, caught a gust of wind approaching the other and glided low over the ground, claws outstretched.

Shay quickly calculated the other's speed, then turned and ran back down the trail in the direction of Eloan and T.K. As he ran, the boy sheathed his left-handed blade and flung the other to the side and to the ground. Ahead of him, he could hear the shouts of Eloan and Takeru as they cried out advice and warnings to him... and more than anything, he wished that they would be quiet. He already had this worked out.

And then, just before the creature could nab him, Shay threw himself down on his back. And the Saurian, misjudging, missed the stab that it had been aiming at him with its taloned claws. And then it tried to soar off again into the sky, only to find that it could no longer lift itself any higher into the air. With alarm, the creature realized that the boy _a'ladon _had latched onto the scaly hide of its tail and was now being dragged along with it as it flapped its wings repeatedly to try to maintain whatever lift it could.

Shay was being hurt terribly by his recurrent collisions with the ground and the jagged rocks that lay half-buried within it as the Saurian dragged him along, the boy digging his claws fiercely into the other's rough tail to keep from being dislodged. And after a moment of repeated jostling, it occurred to him that while the creature could no longer gain any more altitude, neither did he have sufficient weight to take it from the air altogether. He would have to move, or let go, or risk being his body being broken before the creature finally tired.

The winged lizard howled with agony as Shay drove sharp, vicious claws further up on its tail, then gave a shake as it felt the boy pull himself over and to the top of its back. After a moment of clumsy jostling it realized its ultimate horror... it was being ridden again!

The _a'ladon _prince held on for dear life just to the rear of the creature's bat-like wings, fighting against both the forceful push of the wind and the fierce shaking of the creature that was almost certain to dislodge him from his perch. And then, just as he felt that he could get no better hold and that the creature would most certainly succeed in shaking him off if given anymore time, he clamped around its sides with his knees and pulled his one remaining sword from its sheath, lifted it high, and brought it down hard on the thin membranes of the other's wing.

T.K. and Eloan watched on in horror as the creature fell, spinning, from the treetops to the ground with Shay riding the crippled creature all the way down. Both immediately scurried to the wooded area that they had seen the pair falling towards, weapons at the ready.

"Shay!" T.K. shouted into the thick undergrowth of the old forest, caring not that his voice resonated and careened off of the mountain and carried over a great distance on the wind. If there was anyone to hear, they would already have taken note of the shrill screams of the attacking Saurians.

"Shay! Shay!" Eloan echoed, the tone of his voice just slightly more desperate. He and Shay had been the best of friends for many years, and to imagine the other laying wounded, maybe dying, in the woods...

The red-haired boy raised his reeds to his lips and blew as hard as he could on the two highest notes possible, noting with satisfaction that the little instrument sounded a trilling call far louder than his own (admittedly flimsy) voice could. Perhaps it was his desperation, perhaps an aftereffect of the magic that he had used it to create that made it echo so loudly in his own ears. But in either event, it was this call which Shay finally responded to.

"Eloan! Takeru! Hoi, you two! Over here!" the silver-haired creature gasped out thickly in response.

The two rushed towards the sound of Shay's voice, the larger human plowing a trail through the thick forest floor for the smaller _a'ladon _to follow. On the way they caught sight of the body of the dead Saurian, a gaping hole cut through the membranes of its wing and its body broken upon one of the taller and thicker trees in the area.

"Shay!" Eloan called again. "Where?"

"Here," came the response, and now T.K. and Eloan could see the boy, a single paw raised above his head, resting with his back to a massive pine. They tumbled through the brushwood and very nearly fell at his side.

T.K. was on his knees, looking closely at the boy and his wheezing, measured breaths. "Shay? Are you all right? Bleeding anywhere?" He stared into the other's eyes as he spoke, studying them for some sign of shock that might tell him more than the boy himself would.

Eloan grabbed the other boy by the paw and shook it. "Shay, that was incredible! You flew! You actually had a chance to..." But then the younger of the two trailed off, noticing that his shaking of his friend's paw was apparently causing him pain and that he was not responding with any vigor in his words or his actions.

T.K. noticed it too, and also took note of the other's silence in response to his own questions. "Where is it, Shay? What hurts?"

To T.K. (who was studying the little prince more closely than Eloan was) it looked as though Shay was going to start to cry. The way his teeth were clenched down over his lower lip and the way he measured every word of his response made him almost certain of it. And so, when the creature closed his eyes and turned his face away from the pair, only T.K. knew why. "My... my back and my shoulder hurt, Lord Takeru. Sting pretty fierce, too..." he trailed off. Eloan immediately went to look at his friend's shoulder and upper back, but T.K. waited in dread for what was to come. He could hear that the other had not yet finished.

"And...?" the human prompted.

Shay's lips were trembling now. "And... and I can't feel my leg. This one," he clarified, tapping gently on the upper portion of his left thigh. "I can't feel it, and can't stand on it. Else I would have found the two of you before you found me, tromping through the woods like you were."

"Can't feel it? At all?" T.K. asked, for clarification's sake.

Shay, who had still not turned to face the two, shook his head silently in response. T.K. frowned, then picked up a fallen pine needle from the ground and ran it gently along the bottom of the other's foot to try to get some sort of reflexive reaction. And when there was no response, he found a sharp, pointed stick at his side and poked and prodded up and down the leg in several different areas. Not enough to make his young friend bleed, but very nearly.

And now both Eloan and Shay were watching the golden-haired boy closely, Eloan in confusion and Shay in measured hope. When, after another minute or so of tickling, prodding and tapping he stopped, the hope fell from both of their eyes. "Only this one?" he asked.

Shay nodded, raising and lowering his right foot off of the ground twice for demonstration. T.K. looked grim. He was no doctor, of course, but neither was he stupid. He knew that something like this could only mean trouble. "Come on," he said with a momentary pause. "Let's get back up to the trail and get our packs back. I've got something in there that Kiara gave me that should help with the cuts on your back, anyway." He was back on his feet and extended a hand to the fallen boy. "Here, Shay. I'll help you walk."

"No!" Eloan interrupted, and T.K. looked down at the boy. "I mean... that is... if you don't mind, Takeru, I'd rather help him back up myself."

T.K. looked to Shay, who it seemed did not care one way or the other who helped him... or seemingly even if they did help him or simply left him behind, so deep was his depression. It made the young human wonder if the boy was telling them the entire truth... or if he knew more and would not say. And so T.K. nodded to Eloan and took the swords from both of the boys so that they wouldn't be encumbered by them on the way back up, then helped the red-haired child lift Shay to his feet and tied Shay's left leg to Eloan's right with the long, leathery reins that he found in the mouth of the Saurian. And as he saw this, he frowned. This creature had been someone's mount sometime recently. But whose?

It was a long, arduous trip back up the mountain side with one boy injured and with no trail to lead them, but eventually it was completed. T.K. had walked behind the two, moving to steady them each time the awkward walking arrangement caused either (or usually both) to slip. And when they finally completed the climb, T.K. located both of the boy's packs as well as Shay's discarded sword and conveyed them back to the leeward side of the mountain, away from the wind, where the three had agreed that they would rest for the night.

T.K. and Eloan bandaged Shay's back as well as they could with some strips of cloth and a clear, greasy substance that Kiara had placed in T.K. pack, and Eloan played 'Great Peace' for the boy several times over, though T.K. wasn't at all certain that it would work without a singer accompanying him. And the three ate a meal in silence, gathered around a fire that Shay had pulled himself out of his deepening doldrums enough to light for them. And then it was time to sleep, and T.K. volunteered to take the first watch. Shay had wanted to as well, but T.K. insisted and said that the silver-haired prince would not take a watch at all that night.

The human waited until the two were safely asleep, then wandered a few steps away from the fire. A glower was in his eyes as he went, and he did not care for the choice that he had to make. He desperately needed to know the depth of Shay's injury and whether the crippling was permanent, but the most obvious source for that information came at a heavy price.

Divination... that was forbidden. The holy Book made it perfectly clear that no true believer could call upon a demon for knowledge, even if that believer had a demon that was following him of its own accord and was more than willing to tell him anything he wanted to know. But the beast had already warned him of the attack, and the boy debated about how great a sin he would be committing to call the creature back to learn from it just how badly Shay was hurt. It was not a pleasant choice, but his need was very great.

The opportunity tempted him, Paragon though he was, but in the end he decided that little would be gained by knowing how serious Shay's condition was. They had only two choices in either event; continue on or turn back. And he didn't dare turn back unless Shay's very life was at stake, as Kari was surely almost out of time by now... he had simply dawdled too long with Kiara.

"He would not tell you true in any event," came a voice from behind the boy. "He has no interest in the matter, and so would deceive you simply for the sake of the deception itself."

T.K. whirled around at once, though in joy instead of alert surprise. For he knew that voice... indeed, had been waiting to hear it ever since he had learned of Kari's danger. And as he turned he saw one who few mortals, from either world, would ever both see and recognize. Instantly he fell to his knees and grabbed at the paw of the Reverend Father of the _a'ladon_, a simple creature garbed in a simple cloak. Not really an _a'ladon_, but then, not a human either, of course. T.K. brought the furry paw to his face and kissed it, gripping it tightly as if it would vanish into thin air and instead be some sort of lovely dream instead of a beautiful reality. "Gabriel... Cheyne... whoever you are now," the boy murmured gratefully. "Thank you for coming."

The creature smiled, and placed his other paw upon T.K.'s bowed head. "Come now, Takeru," he murmured gently, smoothing back the boy's golden hair. "On your feet. That is the greeting from servant to master, not the greeting from servant to servant. I might as well be bowing at your feet and kissing your hand."

And then T.K. did manage to stand, and he looked at the creature unashamed of the tears of joy in his eyes. He had nothing to hide from this one, nor could he if he wished to, for deceptions hid as little from him as the bodies or clothes of men did. All was laid bare before the heavenly host.

The golden Crest of Hope around T.K.'s neck gave a brief, warm glow at the other, enveloping and embracing him in its light. "And a joyful hello to you as well, little master," Cheyne responded to it. The reverend creature looked back to the boy. "I trust you've been keeping each other out of trouble?"

T.K. gave a weak smile. "It likes to fight and throw its weight around a little more than is absolutely necessary, I think."

The other nodded in agreement. "Of course. At first, it even tested the strength of Michael himself when it was given into his keeping. It is only natural, I suppose, for it to test its limits again now that it had been given to mortal hands... no matter how much it loves you. Remember, it is an instrument of Holiness, and wants more than anything to be allowed to cleanse the world with its fire. Since it hasn't yet done so, I suppose you have it in hand well enough."

The pair stopped in mid-step, and T.K. took the smaller creature by both paws. "Where have you been? I've been praying and begging and waiting for an answer for ever so long. You know what's been happening, of course." It was a statement, not a question.

The other nodded shortly. "I have. You are often in my thoughts, Takeru, but there are many things which require my attention. If I could I would stay with you always, for you alone among mortals are a delight to me and my kin. But knowing how things are in your world, we have little enough time as it is. We are not like the Almighty. We cannot be in all places at once."

"Then you know... about Kari?" This was a question, the boy not wanting to acknowledge that Gabriel had been aware of her peril and had remained absent.

The _a'ladon _smiled with concealed pride at T.K., careful that the boy not know just how much he thought of him. _He should have been one of us..._ "Yes, Takeru, we know. We have known, and above all else, _He _knows."

The young human looked almost stunned. "And you... you haven't done anything to stop them?"

The angel in disguise looked guardedly at the boy. "Oh, but we have, Takeru. Think on it, Paragon-in-the-flesh. Our conflicts with the fallen are many; the struggles eternal. Perhaps we have not sent Michael and the ten thousand against them to stop them in their desire for the girl, for what would that accomplish save to have the enemy hit back with equal force and tear your world apart? But of course we would never leave even one human to them willingly... and so, we gave her you."

T.K.'s eyebrows shot up with a look that any other time he would have said was mightily disrespectful. "M... me?" he stammered.

The wind was at Cheyne's back, blowing his grayish-brown fur forward in gusts. He nodded. "Of course. We have known of her peril far longer than you have, Takeru. Just what did you think that it meant to have a divine affirmation of your love for her? In whose hands would you rather trust besides your own? And don't say _His_," the creature interrupted, just as T.K. was about to.

"But... but I'm no... I mean... I'm not--"

"Whatever you're going to say," the other interjected. "Stop. Because you are. More than you know. Do you think that just anyone can be called 'Paragon'? That just anyone can wear that Crest around your neck? Hikari needs a hero... a holy hero. She has you, and could not ask for better. Be content."

T.K. was looking down at the ground, thinking on what the other had said. When he looked up again, the creature was shuffling along the trail that led up the side of the mountain. "Wait! Ga... Cheyne! Where are you going? I need you!"

The shrouded _a'ladon _reverend turned and looked back over his shoulder at the boy. "Of course you don't," he answered. "I'm not the one that's needed now, you are. And you'd best get used to being needed, Takeru, because people will likely be needing something from you for as long as you live."

"Wait! What about Shay?"

The other looked saddened for a moment. "And he, as well. What he's done to himself is irreparable, at least for me, though I see it causing him no more physical grief than what's already evident. But he'll need your wisdom soon to keep it from destroying him, Takeru. Now I must go, if I'm to make it to the top in time to meet the new apostles for this land. Remember, it was _your _idea to have them ask for me!" And with these last words echoing down the trail to the boy, Cheyne the Reverend Father was gone.

************

Aine could feel the spirit dwelling inside of her being start to swell, almost bursting at the seems of her flesh to try to escape her body as she led her troupe further down into the bowels of the mountain. The dark spirit that was using both her and Moya's bodies as vessels until the time when the Lord of the mountain was freed could feel the nearness of his new body, and was eager to take possession. Then, and only then, could he wed the Lady Hikari and realize true power.

Once or twice its impatience almost overcame it, and it nearly forgot itself and began to leap outwards from Aine's flesh. _Remember, _she had cautioned it, the creature itself having told her that this would likely occur, _you cannot appear yet in this world. You yourself have said so. To be here without a body would draw your enemies to you and leave you vulnerable to them._

At her reminder the other drew back, dismayed, and again concealed itself deep within her flesh. It had awaited this time for sixteen years now, until this human Hikari was old enough to undergo this rite. It was maddening to think of having to wait another day...

Aine, for her part, would be almost sorry to allow the spirit to leave. While it dwelt within her, it gave her an aura of invincibility, of power, as if none in the world who valued their lives dared to anger her. The creature had promised her this much and more when it had finally taken Hikari and made her power its own, of course, but still she felt as though she would miss the comforting dark blanket around her soul.

The girl, still wrapped in her glossy black robes, could hear Jeron lapse into another fit of coughing up ahead as the Saurians toted him on his litter further down though the sloping cave. The mixture that she had given him to alleviate his drunkenness had doubtless irritated his throat, and now the thick sulfur in the air was making his breathing genuinely difficult.

Aine snickered to herself. He would be dead in a few hours anyway, of course, but it pleased her to think of him suffering because of what she'd done before she saw him dead in the claws of Da'saan. No matter that he would be the one to free it. The spirit dwelling inside of her had called attention to the fact that when the creature was loosed, it would kill and kill and continue to kill until it had sated itself with death and blood. Aine looked around at the troop of _a'ladon _and Saurians that she had brought with her. A fair sized group... it should give the creature the lives that it sought.

And then, right in the middle of her scheming and unbidden, Kueren fell back to join her. The old soldier had a wet rag over his mouth to keep from breathing in too much of the fetid air. He had advised (though not yet ordered) the others to do the same, but had been largely ignored. None of the _a'ladon _soldiers wanted to be seen as weak in front of the lumbering Saurians who were carrying their king, and none of the lizard men seemed to be affected by the burning thickness of the air.

"Mistress?" the man murmured as he glanced distastefully at the girl. "I have asked before and now ask again. End this. Jeron may not see truly in this matter, but I do. Whatever it is that we are doing here, it is to your gain, not his."

Again. Boring. Couldn't the old goat think of any original accusations for once? _Treason! Witchcraft_! Blah, blah, blah. Aine did not turn to look at the older creature, continuing to walk on in silence as he marched dutifully alongside. She wanted to tell him the truth, if for no other reason than to shut him up. Or better yet, to dangle it in front of him, taunting him with it while knowing that he could do nothing to stop her. Acknowledge his suspicions, and let him know that the truth was even worse than he could possibly imagine. She was proof against whatever retaliations that he might attempt, and she desperately wanted him to feel the despair of hopelessness...

The two continued on in silence, trailing at the rear of the _a'ladon _advance guard as well as the Saurian porters. There were none to hear what the two might say between one another, and few that would care. The lizard men... they cared nothing for the tiny, furry creatures. Their king had sent them here on a mission of infiltration and conquest, and they had been fortunate to find allies in the king's two counselors. The girls had promised them that the entire nation would fall into disarray when they had finally finished their tasks, and it would be theirs for the taking. And so, they were content to wait with the patience of the cold-blooded.

But she would not take such a foolish risk. Not with so much on the line. As long as Kueren knew nothing, only suspected, he did not dare even attempt to interfere with her.

"Don't be foolish, Kueren. Jeron is in real danger. My sister and I have seen what must happen if the Lord Takeru should come upon him unguarded. You know the reason as well as I. Are you enough to stand in His way? Are you and even your entire army proof against His wrath?"

The girl glanced back over her shoulder now, most of her countenance still hidden within her dark cowl. "Could you? Or do you even dare try? How many of your men would agree to fight against the Lord Takeru? How many would you lose to reverence? How many more to fear? Takeru is come, Kueren. Come to avenge the death of his best disciple upon the body of our king. All of the signs agree. Jeron needs protection, a protection greater than you can give, and it is only down here that he will find it." That was assuming, of course, that her own little pets hadn't already taken care of the stupid human.

The older solider knew the tricks of the other's voice, even if Jeron did not. He knew her to be lying... at least, most of what she was saying was a lie. She did fear Takeru, though. That much he did not question. But he could not take his suspicions to the king. Not without proof. And when proof came, it was certain to be too late. All that he could do was be at Jeron's side when all of this came to a head. And as the heat and sulfurous smell thickened around him and they continued their decent into the heart of the earth, the man was certain that that time must come soon.

************

Kari awoke to find herself in a small, dimly lit room. The thick odor of scented candles lay heavy in her nostrils, and her head throbbed painfully. She tried to reach up to feel the back of her head where she had been struck, only to find that her hands had been tightly bound at her back.

"Ahh... so she wakes," a thin voice whispered at her from the other side of the room.

Awareness came slowly to the girl. Yes, she was bound. Bound in a sitting position and tied into a wooden chair of some sort. The thick air and pain in her head almost made her swoon back into near unconsciousness, but the girl was determined and forced herself to stay awake. She knew the voice across the room to be Moya's, and answered her weakly.

"Why... why did you d... do this to me?"

The creature was on her feet now, obscuring the candlelight in the room as she moved to Kari's side. She did not answer the other's question right away. "How are you feeling, m'lady? In truth, I had not planned for my man to strike you so hard. It will be worse for me if you are injured when you are delivered, I think."

Kari could see more of the room now, as Moya moved out of the light and to her back. A small room, yes... very small. And the walls very literally awash in strange sigils and markings, some so alien to Kari that they made her blood run cold, if she was uncertain just why.

When she did not respond to the creature, Moya continued. "My apologies for the snugness of your bindings, Hikari, but I dare not take the risk that you might free yourself... or injure yourself further in some foolish attempt to leave this place. Hopefully, when what will be done has been done, you will remember me with kindness."

"Done...? What-- why are you doing this?" the human girl repeated, and she was upset to hear how terribly weak and frightened her own voice sounded. She had tried to mask it, but...

The other's face appeared suddenly in front of her own, and Kari drew involuntarily back. She could see now, behind the cool demeanor and professional bearings of the magistrate, a look of hunger in her eyes. Almost fanatical hunger, that of one who craves something so much that they have been overtaken by the need to have it. "Oh don't be afraid, m'lady. This is a time of happiness for you, not of fear. At least, you may look back on it that way, no matter how you feel right now. Yes, happiness! Because in a few moments, you see, I'll be taking you to meet your husband." The creature ended with a brief chuckle... one that Kari thought contained a certain feel of madness.

The girl wiggled, trying the bonds around her hands again, but they were so intricately woven together that the more she struggled, the tighter they became. "What do you mean, 'husband'? Do you mean T... Lord Takeru?"

The _a'ladon _chuckled again as she made herself busy, rearranging some items on a table nearby. Kari could not crane her head quite far enough to see exactly what they were, but the brief glimpse she caught made the one of them look extremely unpleasant. "Takeru? Oh no. No, no, no. That would never do. That would be quite... disastrous, I'm afraid," the creature prattled on, her words coming as quickly as her now frantic rearranging. "But do not fear! The one that has chosen you for his bride is one that holds a power that even Takeru might kill to possess."

Kari was scared, and now she was upset too. "T.K. doesn't care about power!" she snapped angrily. "And I'm not going to marry anyone right now! Certainly no one who isn't him!"

Another giggle burst from Moya's lips, one that sounded almost demented to the human girl. But then the giggling died away, and was replaced by a deep, throaty growl. A moment later there was another giggle, much weaker this time, followed by an even more powerful rumble from the creature.

And then the other was back at her side in a flash, her angry face only inches away from Kari's. "Oh, but you will!" she snarled, her voice almost masculine and markedly different than the one she had been using before. "You will, and you will enjoy it! Bitch of a human whore! You will be mine, and you will revel in it and despair of it until I tire of you!" And Kari saw red fire glowing in those eyes, unnatural fire the likes of which she had never seen. And the breath coming from the other's mouth and nostrils smelled strongly of sulfur, and her fur bristled with electricity.

__

The Crest! the girl thought, flinching back in alarm. Where was the Crest? Had it been taken from her in the struggle? Where were Gatomon and Patamon? Had they, too, been taken? Of were they (she cringed away from the thought) already dead?

But now Moya had moved away again, and seemed to be struggling with herself. Her head was bowed and hidden by the velvety darkness of her cowl, but she sounded as if she were mumbling to herself and appeared to be shivering violently, though she could not be cold in such attire in the oppressive heat of the room.

Finally, after some time, the _a'ladon _girl stood back up and turned again to Kari. "You mustn't do that, m'lady. You mustn't be so defiant to us... to me. It will only make things that much harder on both you and I. Know that there is nothing that you can do to stop this. You will wed. And after that, you will thank me. And bestow on me such gifts as I have been promised. Rest, allow this to happen, and it will all go much easier."

************

Gatomon awoke to a cool cloth being placed against her forehead, and the little feline sat up in alarm. She caught only the most vague impression of a female _a'ladon _seated at her side before she swooned and fell back against her pillow, the loss of blood having made her very, very weak. She closed her eyes and fought to maintain consciousness, pushing the stars behind her eyelids away and taking deep, cleansing breaths. Again she could feel the creature at her side place the cloth upon her forehead and then put one of its small paws gently upon her cheek.

She continued to breathe heavily for a few moments before she felt well enough to again open her eyes. She could tell already, of course, that she was face-up in bed, and could feel that her wounds had been bandaged in a much more proficient manner than she herself had done. And while the light in the room that she lay was dim, she had the distinct impression that she was no longer in the manor that she had fallen.

She glanced weakly at the creature at her side. "Who are you...? Where am I?"

The creature nodded slowly. She looked to be a very wise one of the _a'ladon_, possibly approaching middle-age or younger, and had a reddish scarf covering her head between her ears. "My name is Kiara, young lady, and you are in my house at the center of the Valley of Ash and Tears. You have been here almost a day now."

Gatomon struggled to prop herself up on her elbows, more slowly this time. She still felt terribly weak. "Kari? Patamon?" she asked, looking at the other, then blinked. "Forgive me, but I'm not at all familiar with your land. Where are Kari and Patamon?"

The other looked grim, her eyes lowering as she considered what to tell the little creature. Then she glanced back up, her eyes narrow and intense. "If by 'Kari' you mean the Lady Hikari... she has already been taken. Back in Kelmuir, more than a day's travel from here... at least, a day by ordinary means. Don't get up," the other insisted, placing a firm paw upon the little feline's chest and holding her down. "There is naught you can do for her now, even were you to get back there this very moment."

Gatomon's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?" she snapped. The creature's paw, though frail-looking, was like iron against her chest. "And how did I get here? Where's Patamon?"

"Patamon is in the next room, being looked over by my daughter. No, no, don't concern yourself. His injuries were significantly more mild than your own. He is simply exhausted by the flight from the city... and that should answer your first question as well."

Gatomon's teeth snapped shut like a trap. "He... he abandoned her?" she hissed, clenching a fist within her powerful gloves. "He left her there to save his own sorry hide and _me?_"

"I did."

Both Gatomon and Kiara turned as the door inched open and Patamon fluttered into the room, landing at the foot of the bed. One of his feet was wrapped in bandages, and he winced as he put pressure on it. He looked at Gatomon, his long ears folded down at his side and as thoughtful a look as she had ever seen on his face. "I was told to; I had to. You were dying. I couldn't help Kari... it was all I could do to get us out of there and bring you here."

This was all happening much too fast for Gatomon. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask, she didn't know which to voice first. "You carried me? How? T.K. wasn't there to help you evolve... was he? _Who _told you to come here? Where is Kari now?"

Patamon looked down, as if he were trying to collect his thoughts. When, a moment later, he looked up again, Gatomon was surprised at the change. Maturity. In her little friend, Gatomon saw a maturity that she had never before seen in him. He had always been the most childish of them all, the most happy-go-lucky. At least in this stage in his evolution. But now, as she looked at him, it was evident to her that it was no longer so.

"I... I didn't need T.K., Gatomon. And though it makes me kind of sad, I don't think I'll ever need his help again. There was somebody there, the one who rescued me, who explained it all. She rescued you too, even though you probably don't remember much. She said she had been waiting there for a long time to help us, but couldn't do anything to help Kari. She said that Kari was in the hands of the Enemy, and if she did it would start the war too soon... or something like that. But she said that T.K.'s on his way to meet up with Kari and the one who's taken her, and we can help if we can get there in time... and she gave me this." And Gatomon, sitting up, could now see Kari's Crest of Light tied around Patamon's neck.

Gatomon was on her feet then and inched forward to his side. And she looked at him, and felt strange. "I guess... I guess I'd normally be mad at you, Pata. How come I'm not?" And she continued to stare at him, not really expecting an answer, before she continued. "That must have been some person that helped us. I've been waiting years for you to grow up, and she's done it to you in one day."

"Do you feel up to flying?" the orangish little mammal returned. "Kiara's fixed you up as well as she can, she says."

The _a'ladon _woman, who had fallen so silent that the two had almost forgotten she was there, nodded. "It was almost beyond my skill, but they should bleed no more. But you must have time to rest, to recover the strength that you have already lost."

Patamon shook his head. "We don't have time for that. We've got to reach T.K. and your sons before they reach entrance to the mountain. They're facing a terrible fight there, and are walking into it completely unaware."

"Sons? Your information is wanting, child of Hope. Shay is not my son."

The other gave a gentle smile, very wise, very adult-like. So unlike Patamon. "If I understand right, all lost children who find their way to this house are yours. But no matter. We must leave, and soon. Gatomon's stronger than you think. If anyone can make the trip, she can."

Gatomon glowed with pleasure at the words, and now knew that what she had suspected was the truth. Were he still thinking as a child, he would have waited here with her or, at worst, left her here while he went on alone. Trusting in her and her strength, things which he had no control over, showed great maturity.

"It's all right, Kiara. He's right, I do have to go. My thanks for all you've done, but if anything, I have to get that Crest back to Kari."

Patamon shook his head. "To T.K." he corrected. Gatomon turned to him in confusion. He looked away briefly, then continued. "It's too late to get it to her, Gatomon. I don't know how to explain it really, but it is. My Lady... she called it _Gabriel's Ward_, but said it can't protect her from them if they already have her."

Gatomon blinked, then her eyes went vague as if she were trying to remember something. And after a moment, she started. "Two halves of the whole! That's what she said, isn't it? If they're separate, they're not whole. And if T.K. has both of them--"

Patamon smiled. "You were awake. At least for a little bit. I thought so."

"Pata," the little feline gasped, having only a vague impression of a grand, towering lady of great fairness. "Who... who was she?"

But the other didn't respond to her question. His only answer would be a guess, and certainly Gatomon's guess would be as good as his own. "Or maybe if Kari has them both, but in a different way. Maybe not. She did tell me that they don't see Kari as Paragon. But now all that's left is to fight, so it has to be T.K. We _know _he can use them both."

Gatomon nodded vaguely. "But where do we find T.K.? The Crest of Hope will call the Crest of Light to it, I suppose, but only Kari knows how to make it listen. Do you know where he is?"

Patamon shook his head. That continued to be the flaw in his plan. He turned to Kiara. "Do you think you could draw us a map or something?"

The woman bit her lip. Something seemed to be going through her head, a decision that had to be made. But certainly a map was a rather innocuous request, nothing to be troubled by. "What?" she asked, blinking her eyes away from their reverie. "A map? Oh no... certainly not that you could read while flying, in any event. And I would not know how to draw what you would use as markers from the air, never having been up there myself. But I was thinking, perhaps... perhaps I do have someone to guide you. She's been moping about the house ever since she was left behind anyway. That is, if you wouldn't mind a companion on the trip..."

************

It was a long, arduous climb up the side of the mountain for the three boys, even though the path that they were on was relatively hazard-free. Shay's condition made it difficult, but his attitude made it several times worse. Eloan had woven together an intricate apparatus that T.K. wore around his waist and allowed him to carry the silvery-haired prince on his back. It made Shay furious, and he commented often that it made him look like a baby kit being toted around by his mother. (Eloan thought so as well, but wisely refrained from mentioning it).

And as they climbed further into the heights, the wind became even more bitterly cold and the air even more thin. This made it that much more difficult for T.K., as he needed all the strength that he could muster in order to carry Shay, who was about a third of his own weight.

Eloan stopped in the middle of the trail, panting. He was exhausted too, for he was forced to carry not only his own pack but Shay's and T.K.'s as well. "How much further is it, Lord?" he shouted, his head bowed against the gusting wind that whipped the hem of his cloak around his legs. "I thought we would've reached it by now."

The human boy leaned forward, not daring to lean back even to ease his aching legs lest he allow Shay's weight throw him off balance and to the ground. "Almost there, Eloan!" he returned, breathing heavily. He glanced up from within the confines of his deep cowl and pointed ahead. "We should be able to see the entrance around the next corner!"

Eloan nodded and took a step forward, then missed his first step as his foot slid out from under him. The boy had to windmill his arms quickly to regain his balance, and only just kept his footing as T.K. marched past him. The young _a'ladon _knelt, looking in confusion at the slimy residue that had almost put him down. It covered the ground in a long, though not wide, area that hugged the side of the mountain. It was odorless and almost invisible unless one was looking for it, though it did glisten a bit when the light shown on it in a certain way.

"Lord Takeru?" the boy howled into the wind, rubbing the slick substance off on the corner of his cloak. He looked upwards along the trail to see T.K., head bowed, marching steadily into the wind. In his seat resting upon the young human's lower back, Shay sat with his head leaned to the side and his arms folded across his chest. If anything, it looked as though he was pouting. Understandable, of course, but at the moment it irritated Eloan greatly. "Shay!" the boy shouted.

The other looked down with just a flicker of recognition, then leaned back and closed his eyes in indifference. Eloan grimaced. "Shay! Tell Lord Takeru to--"

But Shay clearly wasn't listening, and Takeru could no longer hear him over the wind whistling through the towering fir trees. The boy grimaced in annoyance and left the pool of goo behind, forgotten, as he scrambled to keep up with the pair.

Takeru had told him that Shay would likely never have use of his leg again. He didn't say how that he knew, as he had been as ignorant as the other two the night before, but he did seem certain of it. He had come to Eloan first to ask how the other boy would respond if he were to be told, as Eloan knew the young prince better than he himself did. And Eloan had responded that Shay would act much as he was acting now... either that, or throw a king-sized fit. So the two had agreed not to tell the hobbled creature for the time being, though it now appeared that he had figured it out on his own.

Eloan moved forward as fast as his feet would take him, encumbered as he was. In truth, he would have preferred the fit. At least it would have told him that _some _of the boy's old personality remained. But instead he had sunken into this deep depression, neither speaking nor eating nor even acknowledging either of his companions.

Takeru had rounded the bend now, beyond which he had promised that the entrance to the mountain cave lay. Eloan was uncertain of how he felt. Nervous certainly, but it had also occurred to him that he would finally be seeing the place where his father had fallen, victorious in what by all counts should have been an unwinnable battle. It filled him with a reverence the like of which he had not felt since T'Kai had first given him the shattered hilt of the blade that he had brandished in that same battle.

Then from up ahead and carried upon the wind, the boy heard a tremendous crash and unintelligible cry. He looked up in alarm, torn away from his reverie. "Takeru!" he shouted, quickening his steps. There was no answer, of course, since there was no reason for the human to hear him now when he had not before. But now, having the others out of sight, the failed response made his heart begin to beat faster and hurried his steps even more. _"Takeru? Shay?" _

He was nearing the bend now, and dropped all three packs to lessen his encumbrance and yanking his sword from the sheath at his side. It galled him to drop his own belongings, including those precious few mementoes of his father, but he felt certain that something was fearfully wrong.

***

T.K. stared up in horror at the colossus towering above him, blocking the cave mouth. For a moment his mind struggled to comprehend exactly what it was that he was seeing. It looked... he had no words to describe it, but the closest thing that he could imagine was an enormous, writhing worm that was at least ten feet tall and thrice that in length. Its scaly flesh was a twisted, dark emerald color that reflected his own image in a broken manner upon its surface. There were no eyes, no antennae... nothing to tell which end of the creature was which, and the ground upon which it lay was covered with a glistening ooze of some sort.

The boy grabbed frantically at the golden Crest, now resting inertly against the outside of his shirt. "F... Father, protect us," he murmured, then watched as the muscles deep within the massive creature's body began to contract and move it towards his direction.

"Shay!" the young human whispered in alarm to his ward. When, after a moment, there was no response, he murmured in a slightly louder voice. "Shay! What is that thing?"

T.K. found himself backing away from the massive horror, when suddenly his foot slid into a small hole in the surface of the mountain that was filled with the clear slime surrounding the creature. The boy went down with a crash, Shay's conveyance breaking and clattering heavily to the ground.

The creature turned at the noise, and now hastened its lurching movements towards the pair. And now T.K. could see a mouth open up at the end that was moving towards them, a mouth that was literally filled with a circular layer upon layer of razor-sharp fangs. The sight made T.K.'s skin go even colder than the frigid mountain wind.

But then the boy turned and grabbed at Shay, who was laying quite still upon the ground and not even appearing to take notice of what was happening. T.K. feared for a moment that something else was wrong with him, until he saw the boy's eyes flicker and his chest rise and fall with deep breaths. "Shay, come on!" he shouted, grabbing the other's furry arm and trying to pull him to his feet. But the prince only continued to lay there like dead weight, not making one motion to even acknowledge the other boy's presence.

T.K. looked back up, to find the horror almost directly on top of them now. In desperation he tried pulling Shay along the ground and out of the path of the creature. He was certain that it would again tear open the wounds on the other boy's back, but at the moment that was his last concern.

And then, as he started to have some success in pulling Shay from the creature's path, the other looked up at him in evident annoyance and yanked his paw out of his grasp.

"Takeru!" T.K. heard at his back. The boy turned, and saw Eloan throw his staff to him and rush to engage the creature. T.K. looked from the red-haired child to Shay and back again, then moved to join Eloan. "Shay, get back out of the way!" he hissed before he left.

Shay said nothing in response, but did finally turn his head to watch as the pair rushed into battle. And he grimaced as Eloan now began to fight with the skill and grace of a genuine warrior. His blows were measured and accurate, and his movements were as fluid as those of a dancer. Little Eloan. The little dreamer. The minstrel, the romantic... now looked to be growing into a true warrior. The warrior that he himself would never be. Not now. Now he was a damned cripple, and in his father's court, he had learned that the crippled could hope for little better than being turned out on the streets to beg for their bread. Ailora... Ailora would despise him now for what he had become. She had used to love it when he had chased her through the woods, always allowing her to stay just one step ahead of him. Of climbing the tallest of trees and dancing among their branches. He would never do any of that again.

And now he was crying. He hated himself for it, and his only consolation was that no one else could see the tears. And through tears, a whispered plea went out to his red-haired playmate, one that neither of the combatants could hear, of course.

__

"Eloan... Ene aterdes yi moreves."


	6. The Depravity of King Jeron

_"Eloan... Ene aterdes yi moreves."_

"Just let me die, Eloan..."

But neither the red-haired boy nor his fair-haired human partner could hear the whispered plea above the din of combat. Nor, of course, would they have given any thought to heed it if they had. But as Shay watched the battle unfolding before him, knew it to be the wisest course of action... as well the one that he himself would most desire. The hulking behemoth that they were engaged in battle with could never catch the pair of them if they should flee. Indeed, now that they had succeeded in luring it away from the mountain, they could very easily just move around it and into the cave mouth that it had been blocking. That had been their original destination anyway, and the creature was so terrifyingly large that it certainly could not follow.

But no. They weren't leaving. They were staying to fight. To save him. They were heedlessly risking their own lives for his, even when he didn't want to be saved in the first place.

A pale-greenish ichor was now seeping from the creature's flanks where Eloan's sword had penetrated its scale-like flesh, leaving the ground literally awash with both that sticky substance as well as the clear, slick gel that the creature was leaving behind in its wake. It thrashed about in colossal misery at the wounds in its side but still would not give way, desperate as it was to feast on the adventurers.

Meanwhile, over at the head of the creature, T.K. was beginning to get angry. His fever had returned with a vengeance, and despite the chill of the mountain air a sweat of heavy exertion was running in torrents down his face and into his eyes. _Another stupid fight. _Just how was this helping Kari?

Now T.K. swung the crown of his heavy rod again at colossal worm's side, only this time the Crest of Hope involved itself as well. It had sensed T.K.'s growing irritation, and as the boy's calm fell away from him, so did his unwavering control over the intense power that was held within. The boy Paragon was concerned over the use of its might, that the joy of channeling the divine power might prove too strong for him to resist. The little relic was not so concerned. It would win the boy's freedom through honest love, not trickery.

A golden inferno of holiness passed through T.K.'s arm and down the length of the weapon in his hand, setting it ablaze and cutting through the dank grayness of the mountainside like the sun brought to earth. And then, as the blunt end of the weapon struck the head of the great worm in a veritable explosion of white sparks, the beast suddenly let out a great wail of agony and began lurching backwards and away from the boy.

Eloan looked on in alarm, trembling at the angry reflection of fire in the eyes of the Lord Takeru as he advanced, the burning staff still locked in his hands and the golden flames licking affectionately at him. "Begone!" the young human shouted at the beast, and the roar of an explosive inferno was in his voice as it echoed off the mountain and into the valley at his back. "No more will you service evil!"

Now Eloan was forced to throw himself to the side as the beast moved to attack him, lowering its massive head and scooping up a great circular mouthful of dirt and stones where he had been standing only moments before. With a stupid look of satisfaction in its eyes the creature began to chew upon the soil that had been caught up in its maw, as if expecting the young creature to have been consumed as well. It was only when Eloan caught the colossal worm with a quick blow across the side of its head that it came to the conclusion that it had not eaten the boy after all.

Even Shay, in his petulant misery, was forced to wince at the long, ugly welt that Takeru's fiery staff had raised on the creature's flesh. Bits of scales and flesh were crumbling off now, blackened and dead from the single blow.

T.K. was no longer attempting to evade the beast. Now he simply walked alongside of it, the weapon in his fist a brand afire with which he continually struck at the flanks of the worm, each time shouting "Begone!". And each time he struck the creature it flinched, but in its unthinking stupidity continued in its pursuit of the smaller, red-haired _a'ladon _boy.

T.K. grimaced, but knew what needed to be done. In its ignorance the leviathan simply could not be made to give in, and while there was no real evil in it, it remained a danger to be dealt with. And so, regretfully, the human Paragon drew his staff back like a spear and thrust it forcefully into the creature's body directly beside its vestigial legs.

The worm gave a mad, howling cry of agony as the fiery brand seared through its protective shell, driven into its interior by the irresistible force of the boy's thrust. Like a warm knife through butter did T.K.'s weapon cut through the iron-hard scales on the chest of the beast, until virtually the entire length of the weapon was within, leaving only a handsbreadth of its handle for the boy to hold on to. Then his arm shivered as he felt the Crest of Hope send yet another flood of holy fury coursing down it, again through the long rod in his hand and into the heart of the beast. And as the golden fire charred the insides of the creature it gave a howl and one last, plaintive wail before allowing its head to fall down upon the cold earth for the final time.

T.K. exhaled a short sigh of fatigue and bowed his head, then removed the length of his weapon from the belly of the beast. And to the amazement of both Eloan and Shay (though not T.K.) the weapon had none of the blood nor innards of the creature covering it when the boy pulled it free. The young human was almost self-conscious as he placed the Crest of Hope (which had seemingly worked its way free from beneath his shirt) back down in its place against his chest.

Eloan was panting heavily, and kept his eyes warily on the carcass of the creature as he made his way to T.K.'s side. He looked up at the other, trying to ignore the single tear that was slowly rolling down the human's flushed cheek. "Taker-- Tekay?" the little creature ventured, fumbling to push his sword into the scabbard at his side. "Are you... well?"

T.K. barely heard, his eyes closed in denial and his soul locked in a silent battle with the Crest of Hope. They were partners in this, and would not ascend until they could agree. But the strangest part of the boy's struggle was that both the Crest and his immortal soul desired the exact same thing from him. It was only T.K.'s stubborn, human sentiment that interceded on the opposite side, demanding that his soul keep the Crest from remaking him into something else, something greater. But he was well aware that he did not have the strength to fight against that one true desire for much longer, and the realization alarmed him terribly.

The mountain air was frigid in T.K.'s lungs, though his skin still burned with fever and the vigor of the battle. The human boy exhaled a frosty breath. "I'm... fine, Eloan. It isn't my fate to die inside the belly of such a beast. There's nothing wrong now that hasn't been wrong from the outset."

Eloan lowered his eyes in respect of the other. "You are as great a warrior as the legends tell, Lord."

T.K. placed a gentle hand on the other's furry head. "I think a truly great warrior would be able to stay out of trouble easier than I do. I'm fine, Eloan. Go see about Shay."

Eloan nodded and turned on his heel, quickly making his way over to Shay's side, and T.K. watched as the silvery-haired prince turned his back on his younger friend in standoffish distress. Then the human boy moved wordlessly out of sight of the pair and looked down at his arm as he flexed it once, then twice, and closed his eyes and nodded in relief at the still human feel of it. The Crest still waited, if impatiently, for his ascension. It would not finish what it had begun in him until the boy himself gave the word.

He felt so terribly alone like this, left clinging to his humanity by only the bare threads of his wavering emotions. And the spirit of the Crest... it wanted him to leave that humanity behind and embrace its holy power on a permanent basis. It would become a part of him, and he a part of it. It had happened to him once before, and as such he could not help but look on the next time with apprehension.

The power... the power that he'd had then had been so unspeakably great. He had worn the armor of the Paragon and, for a few moments, had been one. Not the shadow of one that he was now, but a living, breathing, holy Paragon. Very nearly angelic. In the end he had managed, just barely, to surrender the holy vigor again when the time came. But while doing so, he had physically experienced the tangible loss and grief that both the angels and the celestial Paragons felt at his leaving. They wanted... no, _needed _him to remain with them, and the very rightness of it all had nearly swayed him into doing so. It was only the vague lack of totality that he felt without Kari at his side that enabled him to set aside that spirit.

Back in his earthly body, T.K. had felt almost... crippled. Lethargic. Dead, in a way, and so very, very weak. In time and with Kari's help the feeling had passed, but he had still lost something that day that he had never gotten back. He had not been whole since, because in those brief moments he had been so very, very much more than whole.

It remained a great possibility that, in order to keep Kari from the clutches of the demon, T.K. might once again have to don the armor of the Paragon... might once again have to embrace the spirit of the Crest of Heroes as his own. And it haunted him to think that, if he should, he would not have the strength to return to his mortality ever again.

*********

Aine stepped to the edge of the precipice on which she had called a halt and gave a long stare down into the abyss to where she was leading her troops. The heat in the cavern was sweltering, and even the stubborn and reclusive girl was finally forced to draw back her black satin hood to catch her breath. And as she looked, she saw the place that the dark spirit residing inside of her body told her that she would see. A small cave far below, whose crown had been shorn off during the great battle between Da'saan and the Paragons.

She gave an unintelligible grunt to the men in front of her to get them moving again. Owing to the excessive slenderness of the trail that led down into the abyss, her group was forced to march in a single-file line. This meant that Jeron could no longer be toted down on the shoulders of his Saurian porters, and was forced to march at the rear of the company with only Kueren at his back.

"M... Majesty?" Kueren murmured at the back of his friend.

The king gave a weak, wheezing cough, then took a small sip from a flask dangling from a cord at his side.

"Majesty? Jeron?" the old sergeant repeated.

"Mmm... yes, Kueren. What is it?" the other replied huskily, as if reluctant to speak at the moment.

Over the shoulder of his king, Kueren could see that the head of the line was approaching the massive cave with the sheared-off crown. He winced. That was their destination. He had put this off for far too long, and now had only seconds left to do what had to be done. "Majesty... Jeron... my friend..." it had been over a decade since the sergeant had spoken to him thus. "Jeron, come with me. Leave this place. I come to you with no proof or evidence of any sort, but you must believe when I say that this will be our undoing. Aine cares nothing for you or your safety, no matter what lies she has told you. This venture is at best a fatal mistake... at worst, it is a trap."

The king, even on the narrow ledge and in his sorry condition, risked a glance back over his shoulder at the other. "So they were right. I didn't believe them, but the girls had told me that you were becoming jealous that I was listening to their counsels more than your own now. Would you now give me a lie even to my face to betray them?"

The other drew back, and even in the heat of the cave felt his blood go cold. In his estimation, he had remained calm quite long enough. But still, he managed to hold his temper as he pleaded with the other. "Jeron, I'm not coming to you now as your counselor. I'm coming to you as your friend... maybe the only real friend that you have left. Believe me, if there was proof of what I say I would have found it and made this all the more easier on both of us. But for now just listen to a friend who is worried about you. Look around you," he said, waving an arm across the chasm and down into the sulfurous abyss. "Does this pit look like the home of salvation for you? Or for any of us?"

From her position near the front of the line, Aine gave a small smile. She knew what was happening at the rear, if she didn't have the pleasure of seeing it herself.

"'Best to hide from the hunting cat in the house of the chained dog,'" Jeron answered proverbially and with an ugly glare in his eyes. "Even if what you say is true. None of the wise dispute the fact that Takeru is returning... perhaps is even here now! Would you have me simply wait until he comes upon me to destroy me? At least the girls have taken the responsibility to try to keep me safe! You've counseled nothing at all!"

Kueren looked almost hurt. "I... I have no counsel to give on this matter, Majesty, but that the sisters are misleading you. Though, yes, I come without proof. But think on this. If all agree that Takeru's return is nigh, do all agree that he would do you harm? Or is it only Aine and Moya that have told you so?"

"I _killed _T'Kai, Kueren!" the king hissed back, and then blinked at the volume of his own raspy voice. But the only creatures in earshot of the pair were two bored-looking Saurians, who didn't appear to think that any single killing was anything to boast of. Nevertheless, Jeron lowered his voice. "As surely as if I'd taken a knife and slit his throat myself, I killed him. Do you think that Takeru is going to exalt me for that? You, as well as anyone, know how close the two were."

"But Takeru is _good_, Jeron," Kueren tried desperately, as the two now stepped onto the level base of the cave. Ahead the sergeant could see what could only be described as an infinite orb of darkness that was seemingly held in a finite existence, and the sulfury thickness of the air was almost choking him now. "He wouldn't kill you out of vengeance. What's the worst that could happen?"

The king paused for a moment, and didn't answer.

"Very well. Then what's the worst that could happen down here?" The pair were the only two still walking forward, as the troops had fallen into two lazy lines of attention. "That thing in there terrorized our people for long centuries, and now you're going to try to haggle with it for protection?"

"Aine and Moya have nothing to gain by betraying me, Kueren," Jeron snapped, switching his mindset. "They are in positions of some wealth and greater power now only because of me. I doubt that they could find anyone who would offer them more in another king." And now he looked suspiciously at his old friend. "But you... you, on the other hand... I wonder, what would be your ambition if Takeru should take his vengeance out upon me? Regent for my son until he comes of age, perhaps? Even a full blown military coup? Is that where all of this counsel of inaction comes from, Kueren? Do you want my crown?"

The eyes of the sergeant fell away from his king... his friend. As his gaze trailed down he looked at the ragged, dirty clothes on the man and the battered and dull medals and insignia of his office. His once fine, auburn hair was gnarled and twisted and now more a dull gray than red. The thin crown still sitting awkwardly on top of his head had lost all of its luster. Were Kueren not a full grown man, and a soldier as well, he might have felt like crying.

But then a great and tremendous burden was lifted from his shoulders as he spoke, though the words themselves were soft and barely audible. "No, Majesty. I want neither your crown nor your throne. All I ever wanted was your friendship, but now the witches have robbed me of that as well. And so, in the unlikely event that we should leave this place alive, you will have my resignation. This is a new age that we're entering into, Jeron, and there are younger men who will serve you far better than I."

The king blinked back astonishment, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, a look of acuity finally reappeared in his eyes. And in that one, brief moment of cognizance, he almost made the entire trip back to sanity from the edge of depravity to which he had been driven. In that moment, he very nearly ordered his entire procession to turn around and leave the cave at once. To beg Kueren's forgiveness, and order Aine seized and held until some truth could be wrung from her. Almost. But in that moment, the girl in her black velvet costume approached the pair at Jeron's back.

"Truer words were never spoken, Sergeant. Now if you are through trying to interfere in this matter which is far beyond your comprehension, it is time for his Majesty to fulfill the task which he has been called to complete. If you feel up to it, you may come with us to do so. Otherwise, I will appoint one of the other men to guard his king."

Kueren glanced to the side at the pulsating... almost sentient darkness that existed barely twenty feet away from them. He knew that it was evil, and knew that it would mean his death to enter there. But still, he had sworn an oath to his king, and would not fail that oath while he still drew breath. And so the old solider drew himself up to his full height and placed a single paw on the hilt of the sheathed sword at his side. "Very well. If his Majesty remains insistent, I will cleave to what remains of my pledge and follow him wherever he leads."

"Excellent," Aine nodded, then turned her head. She smiled in satisfaction at what she saw. "And just in time, too, for here come two others who have parts to play as well."

And at these words from the girl both Kueren and Jeron turned to look over their shoulders, their argument forgotten for the moment, as they saw a strange sight. For at their backs a hazy cloud had formed in the center of the cavern for no apparent reason, and a moment later, Aine's sister Moya stepped from the center of that cloud. And in her paw was a short length of chain, at the other end of which, bound and struggling, came the not unfamiliar form of the Lady Hikari.

************

Kari's emotions were a jumble inside of her as she continued to strain against the thick manacles around her wrists. It seemed to the girl that there was no reason why she shouldn't be able to pull the chains with which she was bound away from the paws of the willowy _a'ladon _magistrate, but every time she tried she found that the creature's strength was like an unyielding bar of iron. It was impossible that such a small, seemingly fragile girl like Moya should have the strength not only to continue to hold the chains, but also to not even seem to notice when she tried to pull them from her grasp.

Kari was understandably nervous after all she had seen and been told, but now she was becoming angry as well. Moya had as of yet given no indication to her whether Patamon and Gatomon were even still alive, nor had she given any great detail as to why she had taken her in the first place... outside of the repeated and ambiguous remarks about a pending 'marriage'. And so the human girl remained almost entirely in ignorance as they passed into the hazy darkness that Kari had to assume was another gateway, after having watched Moya conjure it from the thin air of the stone room that they'd been in.

But still, she was not without hope... rather, not without Hope. Because, somewhere out there, T.K. was already planning to put a stop to this. She was sure of it.

"He will come for me, you know," the girl said to Moya's back.

"Mmm?" the other answered. "Come for you? Oh, Takeru?" She paused and seemed to flinch, the paw with which she held her end of the chain beginning to quiver for just a moment. And for a moment, it sounded to Kari as if the other were quietly coughing... or perhaps wheezing a bit. But then, a moment later, Moya continued. "He may indeed. We would be more the fools not to consider the possibility and prepare for it. But when... if... he does come for you, are you certain that he'll still want you?"

A look of confusion veiled Kari's eyes before Moya continued. "You see, Hikari, we _know _what Takeru is. Better that you do, certainly. Perhaps even better than he does. And if we should ever learn just what it is that attracted him to you in the first place then we would have won a great victory. Alas, that is unlikely to happen. But it is your purity and goodness that keeps him bound to you, child. Of that we are certain. And, I can assure you, that when next he sees you, he is unlikely to see anything 'good' about you. And you most certainly will no longer be pure." And the creature turned only her head towards the girl and gave a feral, villainous grin.

Kari felt her blood run cold, but she kept her head high. "You don't know a thing about T.K.," she snapped defiantly. "He's too far beyond your understanding." And now, as she passed through the last wisps of the veil of smoke, she realized that the smooth stones beneath her feet had become a rough, gravelly kind of surface instead. She bit her lip. "T.K., where _are _you?" she whispered to no one in particular.

The girl recognized the place at once when the veil of smoke cleared. Recognized the view, the smell... even the oppressive feel of the cavern without hesitation. "Oh _no_," she murmured.

Moya was dragging her forward now as the magistrate was approached by another _a'ladon_... one so similar to her that Kari had very little difficulty identifying them as close kin. Perhaps even sisters.

This feeling was confirmed when the two embraced, Moya still keeping a tight, one-handed grip on the chain that bound Kari despite the girl's continued efforts to pull away. "Aine," Moya said fondly, pressing one furry cheek against the other's.

"Moya. Dearest sister," Aine answered, returning the embrace. Then the second looked over her sister's shoulder to see Kari at her back. She nodded. "And the Lady Hikari. Welcome, child."

Kari said nothing in response, moodily turning her head away from the other's eyes. She stopped her futile struggling and let her arms fall in front of her, the chains and manacles around her wrists clanking noisily. She'd have to find another way out, because trying to pull the length of chain from the other's grasp was clearly an exercise in futility. Better now to listen and learn what she could.

Moya glanced at her sister. "Takeru?"

Aine looked at their captive for a moment, as if trying to decide just what she should be allowed to hear. Then she shrugged. It mattered little. They were in complete control at the moment. The knowledge that the human Paragon was still in pursuit remained insignificant. "Still alive, as near as I can tell," she answered. "I had used your concoction to create some rather nasty sentinels for the outside of the cave, but it seems to me that they've already been eliminated."

Moya looked pained. "_All _of it?" she returned.

The other again shrugged her indifference. "It was necessary."

The look in Moya's eyes turned to a frown. "How great was his delay? Do we have time still?"

Aine smiled, and lovingly placed a single paw upon her stomach. "You feel His anxiousness too, yes, sister? Don't worry. Jeron is ready... at least, as ready as he will allow, and the body that awaits the Master is now only steps away. Takeru... Takeru is no longer of any concern. Let the mountain fall and the skies burn with his holy wrath, for it is our time that is nigh."

Moya nodded, but it was clear that she was anxious to get the rites underway as soon as possible. For while her sister may have enjoyed the feeling of the dark spirit dwelling within her, she was rapidly losing any sense of self that she had left. Even when she concentrated, she could now barely tell where she left off and the demonic creature began. It was an feeling beyond discomfort for her, and she felt certain that she would vomit the thing up if she were not rid of it soon. "Very well then. Get Jeron and... the other... ready, and explain to him what has to be done. I'll don Hikari in something more appropriate for her nuptials, and then we go. Thirty minutes. No more."

Aine turned to look at the seething darkness that had now captured the morbid attention of nearly all of the soldiers in their group. "Aye," she murmured. "Thirty minutes."

************

Ailora clung tightly to the neck of Pesasusmon as the stallion of Heroes soared high above the treetops of her home. His mane was whipping violently against her face, repeatedly stinging it, but still she strained to see whatever she could from this height. It was amazing to the girl, and despite knowing the desperateness of the situation she wanted to savor every moment of it that she could.

As she rode she considered the creature, and the other at her back. Never did she think that she would have the chance to meet with the legendary familiars... in their time, not even her father and mother had done that. Yet now she had not only met them, now she was flying with them as well.

"Nefertimon?" Pegasusmon sounded, his deep voice echoing past her ears on the wind. "How does it go with you? Can you keep up with this pace?"

Ailora glanced over her shoulder to see the flying, feline creature behind them give a weak smile in response. "If you can set it, I can keep it, Pata," she returned.

It seemed to Ailora that her steed was not quite satisfied with his partner's response, but he seemed to shake it off with a turn of his head as he plowed forth into the wind. Ailora, too, had heard the weakness in the other's words. And she frowned. She was, for the moment at least, in a position of authority here. Well, if not authority, then certainly in one with some clout. She was the only one who knew exactly where it was that they were going, and she wondered if she shouldn't call a halt for a time to allow the cat-like creature to rest.

Nefertimon herself wouldn't do so, probably out of pride, judging by her last words. Pegasusmon? Was he so worried about the Lord Takeru that he would push his female partner to exhaustion? Or was it something else? Back at her mother's home as they were about to leave, she'd sensed a great deal of affection between the pair. Perhaps he was scared to confront her?

The girl tugged on the mane of the golden stallion. "Uhm... hoi, Pegasusmon? Don't you think we should stop? She's not looking too well."

The other seemed surprised at that. "You have heard me ask if she is well enough to keep the pace, child. It is enough that she has said yes. If it were otherwise, she would have said so."

Ailora was struggling to keep the sword belted to her side from repeatedly slamming into the flanks of the golden stallion. She gripped the hilt tightly. "But is she really? What if she's just trying to push herself too hard to try to get to Takeru faster?"

"I think you have much to learn, Ailora, about trust. Nefertimon knows the limits of her own strength, and though she will push them, she will not cause us to fail by denying them. We have been companions for a long time, she and I, and both know that an effort such as this can only be fulfilled when all members of a company are completely open and honest with one another. Yes, she is concerned about T.K.... he and Kari both. And she therefore will not put them in any greater danger by pushing herself beyond her limits and slowing us down further. She is proud, yes, but reliable first. Concern yourself with more important things than her... if she is in need of help, she will ask for it."

Ailora heard it in his voice... she was very knowledgeable about such things in others. He did care for the other creature. Greatly. And his care for her was so great that he trusted she would reveal to him any weakness that she may have had. The girl thought hard. She'd had few enough chances during her life to witness how adults who cared about one another behaved, but had been certain that it always involved _some _sort of secrecy.

She blinked. It was something to consider. That there were adults so secure in themselves and their friends that there was never any sort of deceit between them.

Ailora pulled on the other's mane again. "There!" she shouted above the sound of the wind in her ears. "That's it. That's Cypress."

Pegasusmon looked down to where the girl pointed, his spirits falling. The mountainous area was enormous. And though the woman Kiara had already explained the precise route to her daughter before the three had left, the girl had already explained that she knew little enough of the local geography to know exactly where the three boys were heading. This search was likely enough to take a very long time.

"Pata... Pegasusmon?"

The golden stallion again turned his head, hearing the weakness in the breathless words as he looked past the _a'ladon _girl on his back to Nefertimon. "Is it time?" he asked.

The other nodded, already beginning a barely controlled spiral down towards a small clearing in the arboreal mountain area beneath them. Pegasusmon folded his wings against his side and gave a startling (to Ailora, at least) plunge until he was a good twenty feet beneath his partner, then started a similar downwards spiral.

Ailora hopped off the side of the creature as soon as he touched earth, then moved away so that Nefertimon would have plenty of room to land... just in case her great fatigue allowed that she was not in total control of her body at the time. And as she stood, Ailora glanced at the threatening storm clouds gathering on the far horizon. A late winter deluge looked to be brewing, and the girl did not relish the idea of being out in the cold rain this far from home.

Nefertimon was far from graceful as she landed. But then, she did keep enough control over herself to keep from doing any of them any harm as she skidded to a stop, her long claws digging trenches into the dark soil. Pegasusmon stepped to her side and placed his equine head alongside hers in a kind of embrace, then murmured a few words in her ear before stepping away to rejoin Ailora.

"Trouble?" he asked.

"It's still a good ways off," Ailora answered. "But it's coming this way, I think."

"How long?"

"A few hours... perhaps. Or less. We'll have to find shelter before too long. It isn't safe to be out in one of those." She paused, then glanced sideways at the golden stallion. "Pegasusmon? Tell me about Lord Takeru."

The winged creature, still focused on the storm, blinked in surprise. "About T.K.? What would you have me tell you?"

"Why is he... like he is? He seemed... he seemed almost sad when we were back at my mother's house. All of the time. Whether he was happy or angry or worried or anything, it always seemed that there was something sad about him. It's not like any creature that I've ever met. Does it have something to do with Hikari?"

Pegasusmon's eyes focused on the other, a discernable smile in them. "You have a surprising wisdom, Ailora. Even among those who know him best, only Kari sees the sadness. And it may be that only she knows the reason, for he will not speak of it himself. But I have my own guess."

"You see, Ailora, T.K. is full of a hope of goodness for the future. He believes the best of all creatures and in all things. That hope buoyed him best when he was a child. But as he has begun to leave childhood behind and enter adulthood, he has become wise to the world as well. And with that wisdom, he has seen that very rarely does good truly prevail. He has been let down again and again by his world and its people, and it is beginning to wear on him."

"More than any creature I have ever met, T.K. cannot abide evil. When he was younger it was more visible than it is now, and appeared to us as anger instead of sadness. There were times when he was so gripped by righteous anger that his friends had thought some madness had taken him. He became almost obsessed with halting the cause of the most evil of creatures, even when it was beyond his strength to do so."

"And lately... lately he has begun to see the bad in his world much more than the good. Believe me when I say that is not difficult where he comes from. And he wants to do a thousand little things to change it, to give goodness and hope back some of what it has lost, only to find that there is not enough time in the day to do all that he would. And so each day he loses a little more of his hope for mankind. And each night he calls on his God... sometimes asking Him to make a change in things; sometimes asking to have the evil hidden from his eyes."

"And what is worst for him, I think, is that he knows he has the power to make a change. It will cost him everything that he has and everything that he loves, but the power for change awaits his call and will come to him at a moment's notice."

Ailora, having been caught in the words and the other's deep, baritone voice, looked up. "But... but that would seem to be the answer to his prayers... wouldn't it?"

"It would be. But there is so much that he would have to forfeit that he hesitates. He would have to forsake not only all of his family, who he cares for deeply, but his friends as well. He would have to give up everything that he has known about the world since birth. He would have to surrender his home... indeed, his entire world. And in the end, his very mortality as well. It happened to him once, though for a brief time only. He became a singular instrument of righteousness, and in that time struck a great blow against evil and saved thousands upon thousands of lives. But in that instant, he was also forced to give up his humanity."

Pegasusmon had long ago stopped thinking about Ailora as he spoke, and now that he trailed off he looked back to her as if remembering that he had an audience. He smiled. "But do not be troubled. If his God be willing, it will not come to that again."

The wind was beginning to swirl about them now, and tiny flakes of snow were driven alongside it. Ailora looked up. "It's starting. We'd better decide now if we want to try to find the entrance or if we need to search for shelter. This is going to be a bad one."

There was a brief flash of golden light, and the noble figure of Pegasusmon was replaced by the small, fluttering Patamon once again. Glancing over her shoulder, Ailora found that the little feline Gatomon had also returned as well. "Shelter, then?" she concluded.

Patamon shook his head. "I don't think so. They're already too far in front of us as it is, and the storm won't make them stop if they're already inside the mountain. So we can't afford to either. There's going to be little enough chance to make up time once we're inside. But we can't risk flying in that kind of weather with Gatomon so tired, so we're going to have to be content with walking for a while. It won't be fast, but at least it will get us somewhere."

*************

"For the last time, Shay, no. We're not leaving you here, and that's final."

The silver-haired prince looked across the cavern entrance at the Lord Takeru, who stood with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes focused back outside where a light drizzle had just started to fall. And now, the young _a'ladon _was not only angry with himself for getting injured, he was humiliated that his inability to move on his own was causing their journey to go awry. His brow furrowed. "Weren't you the one who insisted that this depended on all speed, Takeru? How much time have we already wasted here? How much more will I slow you down on the way?" The frown on the human's face deepened, but he did not answer. Shaywas right, of course, but he was not about to admit any of it.

"Eloan? Anything?" T.K. asked, looking to the red-haired _a'ladon _boy.

The other, his head bowed over his book, shook his head in evident frustration. "I'm sorry Lord Take-- Tekay. Dad just didn't leave very detailed descriptions of what any of these songs do, and there's just too many to read through. I know 'Great Peace' will dull the hurt, but I can't find anything to mend the wound." He glanced over his shoulder at his friend, then lowered his voice. "Have you considered that he may be right?"

T.K. looked down at the boy, somewhat taken aback. "We can't just abandon him here, Eloan. With his leg as it is, he can't defend himself."

Eloan hated to argue with the human, but... "Tekay, I don't think that there's anything here left to hurt him. Certainly, nothing could live around here that that thing," he pointed to the husk of the slain worm outside, "wouldn't have already eaten or scared away. And you're right: He's not able to defend himself anymore. If it should come to a fight down there, we won't be able to defend against Da'saan while protecting him at the same time. We only have two logical choices, Tekay. We can either let him stay here on his own, or we can abandon the journey and take him back to the valley."

"He's right, Takeru," Shay called from across the cavern to the pair. "I knew what I was getting into when this started, and I'm enough of a warrior to recognize when I'm more a liability than an asset to you. I'm also warrior enough to take care of myself right here if the need arises."

T.K.'s eyes were closed now, and he barely heard the words of the two boys. Instead, he was listening to a second heartbeat that echoed in his ears as clearly as his own. It was the powerful voice of the Crest of Hope, telling him to move onward. That this was not his decision to make. Shay had joined him of his own volition, he was free to leave of it as well. And it chastised him for arguing against what it acknowledged as Shay's very honorable request to be left behind, at risk, so that their task might not fail. It was the Crest of Heroes, and saw with the detached eyes of a military tactician what needed to be done to achieve the goal.

And then, slowly, T.K. nodded. All of these facts overwhelmed his one lone thrust that he, solely, was responsible for Shay's safety. As a caring human alone, he might have stayed behind and ferried the injured boy back to Kiara's house. As a leader and a Paragon as well, he had other responsibilities. "Agreed, Shay. Stay here. Stay hidden. And God willing, we'll be back for you soon."

The _a'ladon _prince nodded, a focused look in his eyes. But as Eloan set to dividing between the packs what they would take with them and what would be left behind, Shay motioned T.K. to his side. "But Takeru," he murmured in a low voice. "Please... if you can, don't let my father come to any harm. I know you've every right to, if what those raiders back at the village told us was true, but I won't believe that he's completely gone. My father is bad in many ways, Takeru, but he's never been evil."

T.K. covered Shay's paw with his hand and looked the creature in the eye. "You have my word, Shay. It's a demon that I'm after, not your father. I'm not the one that will be his judge, and if I can return him safely to you when this is all over, then I swear that I will."

Shay studied the young human carefully, a strange look in his eyes. "Takeru...? I... I need to confess something to you. Before this all started and before you came here, I didn't think much of you. I hated the old stories. I fought with Ailora when she revered you and praised you like she did, and I laughed at Eloan for learning about his 'honor' through visions of you. But you... you're so different than what I'd thought. You have power unlike anything that I've ever even imagined, along with the justification to use it to punish those who by all counts should be punished, and then... and then you don't."

T.K. gave a very weak smile in response. "It's not for me to punish, Shay. I only fight because it's what has to be done, and because it's a duty that's been laid on me... a duty that I must obey. Believe me when I say I'd rather not. But I wasn't told to mete out punishment or sit in judgment, and for that I'm exceedingly grateful. Let someone wiser than me carry that burden."

"Wiser?" the other asked as the human Paragon stood. "Does such a one exist?"

T.K. nodded, a wistful look in his eyes that suddenly seemed very far away. "You have my word on it, Shay. Be safe," he murmured, then turned as Eloan approached and thrust one of the packs into his hands. The red-haired boy exchanged a single glance with his silver-haired friend, one that spoke a thousand words of closeness and farewell, then turned his away in preparation to leave and to hide the tears that he felt beginning to well up in his eyes.

Shay raised a paw in parting as well, but it was only a half-hearted one as he alone noticed the look that his last question had brought into Takeru's eyes. It was a look of intense loneliness and grief; of one who has suffered much to fight his way to the doorstep of his heart's desire and then been unwillingly forced to turn his back on it. The look of such agonizing loss on such a noble face physically affected Shay, and the memory of it stayed with him for the rest of his life.

************

Jeron was aghast at what he saw as he inched forward into the murky depths of the cavern, Aine close at his heels. It was as through the darkness swirling around him was alive and was desperate to take form and to grasp him with something more manifest than the empty nothingness. There was a lump in the man's throat that he could not swallow, one that he was certain would take hold and strangle him any moment now. At his back he could hear Aine, and behind her the struggles as the Lady Hikari tried to pull away from Moya's hands.

A surreal feeling took hold of the king, as if he were only a marionette in the hands of a strange and unseen puppeteer as he continued to walk forward into the cool shadows. Far off in the distance, or perhaps it was only a single step away, was the form of a single, shining star glimmering in the black depths. The sight of the object transfixed the man, and he knew that it held great significance.

"Now, Majesty," Aine whispered into his ear, her paws reaching around and caressing his torso in a most inappropriate and seductive manner, "step forward and take what is offered to you. Free your soul from the fear of what Takeru will bring. Submit yourself to the safety of oblivion."

The sight of the star was beautiful, and held the king riveted. It was so, _so _exquisite there in the darkness, and he longed to touch it and claim it for his own, if just for a moment. All would be right with the world, and he would willingly die a thousand deaths if he could just take hold of that shining star for the most brief second.

"Yes, Majesty," Aine's words wrapped themselves about his soul in a warm, comforting manner. "That is what you've come for. The answer to everything that you've ever wanted. Take it... it's yours."

Jeron could hear the loud murmuring of his men at the mouth of the looming cavern, and could even faintly discern the voice of Hikari as she screamed unintelligible words at him. But nothing mattered at that point besides that beauty of that little star and what it offered to him. Hikari. Moya. Aine. Kueren. Nothing mattered. The king of the _a'ladon _reached a single, trembling paw forward...

"Jeron! Stop!"

The king turned in alarm as the thunderous shout of power and undeniable authority shook the cavern and split the smothering darkness surrounding him. The sound was like an audible, golden lance, stabbing through his bemusement and straight into his consciousness where nothing else would, and he trembled as he recognized the voice of the speaker.

Moya's breath caught in her throat at the sound, and she turned in horror. Craning her head towards the cliffs towering above them, she could see the lanky form of the Lord Takeru standing at the very precipice of the shattered cliff wall with a young _a'ladon _male at his side. "Y... _You!_" she hissed, and the throaty voice that sprang from her lips was most definitely not her own.

"T.K.!" Kari shouted, struggling anew against the chains that bound her wrists. "T.K., I'm here!"

From his perch high upon the cliff, the young human blinked in astonishment. Kari...? Here? No, that couldn't be. Kari was safe at home, in the other world. He'd left her there to be away from this when it happened. How could she be here... now...?

Aine remained in control of herself where her sister no longer could, forcing the demonic presence in her belly back down until it was ready to emerge. Her paw was now on Jeron's shoulder, and her claws dug deeply into his flesh as she hissed into his ear, "Now, now do you see, Majesty? He _has _come! Takeru has come for his vengeance and has brought with him the heir of T'Kai the martyr as witness to his retribution. Your life is forfeit to his wrath, king, unless you act now. Reach your paw forward and take hold of the star, the broken shard of T'Kai's blade! It is your only hope for salvation from your fate, Jeron!"

The king of the _a'ladon _stared blankly at the girl, the last spark of his sanity having fled at the sound of Takeru's voice. The other voices echoing through the cavern, whether human, Saurian or _a'ladon_, no longer mattered to him. Out of all the chaos he latched himself onto Aine's command, and acted accordingly. And then, with seemingly no resistance whatsoever, the razor-sharp shard slid willingly into his grasp.

Time seemed to grind unwillingly to a halt as the commotion and chaos in the cavern ended at once, with each individual therein sensing that something of note had just occurred. Kari felt her blood run cold and something unpleasant tickle her shoulder, and she turned around with a start.

The creature was thin and underdeveloped, and not so outwardly terrifying as she might have expected. It was the size and roughly the shape of a human child, and staggered towards her on two shiny hooves which were partially obscured behind a thick, trailing mist. But it was the skin of the thing which held her attention. It was a perfect and glossy black color, and showed no hint of any individual features. Instead it reflected the surrounding area, and Kari was horrified to see her own, distorted image echoed in the area where its face should be.

But now, at her side, Moya had dropped to her knees and was holding her stomach, coughing and retching and with a terrified look in her eyes. At that moment Kari gave the manacles binding her wrist one final, powerful tug and pulled them free from the grasp of the _a'ladon _girl. But as much as she wanted to flee back up the spiral path to the safety of T.K.'s arms, she found that she could do little more than stare in horror at what was beginning to happen at her side.

Black fluid was literally gushing from the open mouth of Moya the _a'ladon_; a thick, oily goo that was bursting forth from her body in copious amounts and pooling together on the stone floor of the cavern. The girl was shuddering with a seemingly incontrollable palsy, and her screams of pain were interrupted and muffled only when a new flood of the black solution emerged from her body to choke them off.

Something similar was happening to Aine, but the stronger of the two girls stayed on her feet and spit the substance from her mouth instead of simply vomiting it up.

T.K.'s eyes narrowed dangerously as he reached down and pulled the Crest of Hope from beneath his shirt, tearing it from around his neck and holding it tightly within his clenched fist. Eloan, at his side, wrapped a trembling paw tight around the hilt of his own little sword. Even though he was far away, he had never in his life imagined anything so outwardly horrific as what was taking place right in front of his eyes.

Now the shadowy figure of the demon Da'saan had stepped forward, and glanced down with interest at the fluid that the _a'ladon _sisters had vomited up. There was a lingering moment of silence, violated only by the sound of the creature's tortured breathing, before it horrified all present by speaking.

"Yes," it murmured, and in its seeming care to enunciate the word properly, the word almost dribbled off of its lips. "Yes, this was _all _foretold. How _you _would come to me in the guise of the _a'ladon _children who would deliver up to me the human bitch Hikari. How your blood would mingle with mine to restore this body that was broken by the _Exemplar_, and how that union would exalt us. Together, you and I shall become _we_, and will take what has been promised us."

It was as though a deal had been struck between the two entities, for now the pool of dark vomit on the floor began to dissolve into an equally dark gas; a thick mist which surrounded and obscured the equally dark Fiend from sight as he approached the motionless Kari. Reaching forward, he brushed a single claw against her cheek in an obscene caress. "We will enjoy you, Hikari. We will enjoy your body and gorge ourselves upon your mortal soul until there is nothing left of you but the barest threads of flesh wafting away on a gentle breeze. Your life will give us strength anew; a strength greater than any of our brethren have known in millennia." And as the creature spoke he continued to inhale deeply the black mist that was now churning around them both.

"Not another step, _beast,_" T.K. called coldly from above, effectively freezing the demon in its tracks. It knew this voice as well, but _he _had not been predestined to be here at this meeting. In fact, _he _was to have joined the heavenly host long ago, after foiling their Master's most recent attempt at intrusion into the human realm. The creature felt its newly-won blood turn to ice in its veins...

Now the confrontation was joined, and there was complete silence in the room outside of the principles. Moya and Jeron were completely incapacitated, by nausea and madness, respectively. The army of Saurian and _a'ladon _soldiers were too terrified to move, caught in between what each recognized as an enormous power. Kari stood transfixed by the power of the beast; Eloan by his nearness to T.K.'s, and Aine was still struggling to regain what strength she'd lost by giving up the demon spirit.

The demon was not such a fool to attempt a single combat at that moment. Not against the last of the _Exemplar_. True, it was a union of two greater demons of much strength and tenacity, but its body was still horribly damaged and its new blood had not yet had time to endow it with the greater power that it promised. And it recognized all too well the weapon in the child's hand...

But yet... it _needed _Hikari's life. It could hear the girl's heart pounding out a rhythm in its head, and the sound was maddening. It looked up at the golden-haired human boy so far above. "Else what, child? Will you strike me down with Michael's Sword of Ages? Can you even make the throw at such a distance? You are not, after all, Michael himself."

"I'm of the mind that it can find its way to your heart without any help from me, demon. But I offer you this one chance: Let her go and return to Hell where you belong, or you and I will fight to an end."

A message of sorts, unseen and unnoticed by T.K., passed between the creature and Aine at that moment, and the witch leaned over and began whispering into the furry ear of King Jeron. And then the demon gave a deep, throaty growl as it drew in the last of the dark vapors surrounding it. "Then let us do battle, _Exemplar_!" the creature roared with a feral cry, and now several things began to happen at once.

In an instant, the demon reached out to seize Kari, engulfing her face with one large claw and drawing her close to his body. From his back, a set of bat-like, leathery wings sprouted and surrounded the girl... almost in a protective manner. At the same time, T.K. took aim with the Sword of Ages and sent it falling towards the beast like a golden ray of light from above.

But now Jeron, at Aine's command, had thrown himself directly into the path of the holy blade and took the full, fiery force of it against his furry chest. The explosive impact hurled the king all the way to the back wall of the cavern, and his body bounced off of the stone wall with the sickening sound of a bone-shattering _thud_. T.K., momentarily absent of the Crest of Heroes' certainty of right and wrong, was horrified to see Jeron take the devastating blow that he had all but promised Shay that he would not deliver.

And now, a mere instant later, dozens of chattering tiny imps winked into existence at the side of the demon lord. (Many of these were in fact the same creatures which had haunted T.K. with their hatred in this same cavern years earlier.) The creatures instinctively knew their tasks, and without a word of command spoken fell upon the king's little army of Saurians and _a'ladon_, each entering the body and displacing the soul of its chosen host with very little difficulty. Now both Moya and Aine were also at the side of the demon, each seemingly recovered from her earlier indisposition and ready to see that they were, in fact, on the winning side.

The army of spellbound warriors turned to their master, now awaiting his word. The dark beast nodded once at them, then once at T.K. and Eloan. "_Now _we will bring an end, child," he hissed in his coarse voice. "And that end will be one of my making, not yours. The Lady Hikari was preordained to be _my _bride, and she will fulfill that lot without any interference from you, I think."

And with that the wicked creature gathered Kari's limp form into his arms and turned his back on the cavern, pausing briefly by the fallen body of Jeron only to murmur some unintelligible word and spit on the king's now bloodstained fur. Aine and Moya marched diligently alongside the beast as he opened a narrow fissure in the cavern wall with a wave of his clawed hand, then disappeared through it.

****************

"Here?" Patamon asked Gatomon, his eyes narrowing at the crumbling husk of a giant worm that partially blocked the opening into the side of the mountain. "Are you sure?"

"Pata, _something _killed it. And killed it with a pretty neat use of fire, too. I think we both know that if it got between T.K. and Kari..." She trailed off, then turned to Ailora, who was breathing heavily from having carried her heavy blade up the mountainside. "I don't suppose that there are many weapons in your world that can flay a creature like that very easily, are there?"

"I certainly hope not," Ailora answered, barely suppressing an involuntary shiver. The burns covering the massive bulk of its body looked vicious in their infliction, and she could see where the leviathan had cracked the granite of the mountain with its death throes. Lord Takeru had done something like this?

Gatomon glanced at Patamon, whose long ears had fallen limp at his side. "Worried?"

The small, orangish creature bit his lip in concern. "He's using the Crest to fight. That hasn't happened since Iwaki. He'd always said that he couldn't do that ever again unless he was willing to... to stop being human again."

There was a sudden silence in the air, as the significance of Patamon's words occurred to his feline counterpart. She, too, had seen the beauty of what T.K. had become in his last battle against Roan, and had also been witness as Kari had helped him 'learn to be human again' in the months following. It had been a difficult and ofttimes painful process, but in the end...

Gatomon's face fell into sadness and pity for her young human friends. "He won't be able to make it back a second time, Kari or no. It hurt him too much before. And what about her? How much worse will she be, knowing that it was she that forced him into it?" She looked at the cave entrance again, and sighed. "Come on. It won't get us any closer to him by standing here talking about it."

Patamon fluttered into the cave behind the two girls, his head down. He had seen the ultimate disaster which was about to occur here, no matter the outcome. T.K. was lost to them now. He alone had been with the human boy on the nights following the great battle, and he alone had tried to ease him through the excruciating grief that he suffered through after surrendering his celestial home. Kari had helped during the day, when T.K. had tried his best not to display his suffering, but at night...

*

__

T.K. fell against the side of his bed, holding two hands tightly against the chest beneath which his very human heart beat, and his eyes were closed against the pain and the tears that would not cease. But the dread of seeing his partner in such pain became far worse for Patamon when he realized that the boy was not wounded. His injuries had vanished with his exaltation, and had not returned with his human body. The pain that he suffered now was of loss, of rejection, of a return to the human burden after having known the freedom of the heavenly host.

The boy's hand was trembling as he held the Crest of Hope in a tight embrace, as if he would draw the little piece of heaven inside his soul to compensate for what he had willingly given up. Everything... everything was so wrong here now! The music that he'd enjoyed listening to before was little better than discordant noise that rung through his head and pounded against his brain like a hammer. The cleanest, the most fresh gust of air that blew through his room on a spring day choked him with pollution and an angry burning inside of his lungs. Even the food... the food that he'd found delicious and nourishing only the week before now tasted like ashes in his mouth and sat hollow in the pit of his stomach, making him want to retch each time that he started to eat.

"Please... please forgive me," the boy pleaded from his knees, his face pressed flat against the floor. "I could not leave her. Forgive..." And Patamon, eavesdropping, did not honestly know if he begged forgiveness from his God or from himself, nor did he intrude to ask. Friendship and love could cover a great deal of pain with their presence... a great deal, but nothing such as this.

*

The little mammal was drawn back to the present. Gatomon now led the way, her feline eyes much more accustomed to the dim light in here than his own, and Ailora followed closely behind with the ungainly sword held tight in two trembling paws.

T.K.'s suffering had lasted for a great length of time, and it was not something that the boy could learn to live with. Both Kari and the Crest of Hope had treated him with great tenderness during that period, and after two torturous months T.K. had seemed to be recovering a portion of his strength. But though wholeness of body had returned, very little joy came with it. Oh he could smile tolerantly when the situation called for it, and he could embrace his mother tightly when she asked or slap hands with a basketball teammate who'd just given a great effort. But there was no joy in any of it.

Around Kari, though, there had been at least something of the sort. It was a mirror image of what had happened all those years ago when Piedmon had infected the girl with the frailty of hopelessness, and T.K.'s presence was all that had stood between her and death. Now it was he that could only be whole when she was near, and only her touch that could light the spark of humanity in his eyes once again. With her he was free to laugh; free to accept his place in the mortal world once again.

But still, there was always a glimpse of longing in his eyes if ever they should turn skywards, and it was at that point that Patamon had honestly considered what the boy had given up to stay with Kari.

Now Gatomon and Ailora came to a halt in front of him, the young _a'ladon _girl raising a paw to call for silence as she leaned her head to one side. Then she held the point of the sword in front of her and looked further into the cavern. "Who's there?" she demanded.

There was a strained sort of silence for a few moments as their little party continued to listen for a response, and Ailora's evident confidence in her own sharp hearing made them wait a little bit longer than they ordinarily would have. "I know you're there! You're breathing too heavily to hide!" she called again, and as her voice echoed into the long tunnel she knelt down and lowered her voice, whispering to the pair at her side. "Cover your eyes."

Patamon and Gatomon both did so without questioning, and then the a'ladon girl dropped her sword with a clatter and leapt to her feet. She then raised her right paw and faced her palm towards the tunnel down which she been shouting. _"A'hoem Ailora!" _she called, and then shielded her eyes with her forearm as a blinding burst of white energy sprung from her palm and arced into the darkness of the tunnel. "Look again," she murmured to the two digimon, "but not directly at the light."

But as it happened, the light was not at all necessary. While it was true that the inside of the cavern was now lit up as though it were daytime and outdoors, their hidden observer had well recognized that call. "Ailora?" he returned, hobbling to his feet and peering over a large boulder at the three.

"Shay?" the girl called, holding a paw over her eyes to shield them against the glare from the dazzling light. It would only last for a few moments, but...

"Go away, Ailora. Takeru and your mother left you in the Valley for a reason. This is no place for a girl."

The girl's brow furrowed, and behind her back Patamon and Gatomon nodded to one another. The little feline, staying in Ailora's shadow the entire way, crept to the far side of the cavern wall and began to inch along it towards the other _a'ladon_. "What's that supposed to mean? 'No place for a girl'?" the lithe creature demanded. "Where are Lord Takeru and Eloan?"

Gatomon was a mistress of stealth, and had thus far escaped the boy's attention. She was almost halfway to the boulder behind which the other knelt and had managed to stay hidden in the shadows the entire time. "Ailora, don't you get it? People... people are gonna get hurt down here, and I won't let you be one of them. You've got too much to live for to risk your life by being in this place. I'm asking you... no, I'm ordering you to go back home!"

Even Patamon, who had never met the other creature before in his life, could hear the flustered stammering in the boy's words. Ailora's eyes widened at bit at this last demand and the whiskers on her nose quivered in irritation. "You _what? _I'm not yours to order around, Shay! You're not my father and you're not my husband, so you can just keep your orders to yourself!"

"Damn it, Ailora! This isn't one of our games!" The boy sounded for a moment as if he were going to choke on the word, and it was delivered through clenched teeth that were obviously biting back something more than irritation. "This _isn't_ a game, and it _isn't _safe, and it _isn't _fun. If you won't do it because I tell you to then I'll beg. Is that what you want, 'lora? To see me beg? Because I will if you don't go back on your own. I'll get down on my knees and crawl out there and beg it of you."

This gave the girl serious pause, knowing the boy as she did, because she knew Shay to be proud. Very proud... almost to a fault. Even at times when they'd had an argument and she had most clearly won, still she'd never heard the words 'I'm sorry' pass his lips. Even the Shay that he showed around adults, the charming _a'ladon _that even her mother trusted without reason, even then she'd never heard him admit to being wrong or apologize or anything of that nature. To hear him now threatening to beg her to leave... on his knees...

"Hah!" the girl heard a shout from across the way, interrupting her reverie, and as she turned she saw Gatomon leap from the top of the rock to land on the boy _a'ladon _and pull him down to the floor. Shay gave a sharp cry of pain as his legs gave way beneath him, and he struggled to pull the feline off of him.

But if even Gatomon had been weakened by her battle with the demon when Kari had been taken, Shay remained in a much more desperate condition. In a short moment the feline had overcome the struggling boy, and Ailora and Patamon rushed to her side. She was leering down at him as the pair arrived, sitting on his chest. "No place for a _girl_, is it?"

But the only response that Shay could muster was a stifled whimpering noise as he turned his head to the side and bit down on his tongue to keep from shaming himself by bawling like a little kit. Hot tears of pain poured freely from his eyes and pooled on the floor, and his paws were trembling as he clutched his closed fists to his mouth.

Gatomon was aghast, and moved quickly off the fallen boy. She glanced up at the other two, claws held up defensively. "But I... I didn't hit him that hard!" she protested.

Ailora dropped her sword to the ground and knelt at Shay's side, taking the boy's quivering paw in one of her own and lightly stroking his forehead with the other. "Ai... Ailora, please go," the young creature implored of the other, weakly trying to brush her away with claws that just would not stop shaking. "I meant what I said. It's bad enough that Takeru and Eloan are going to fight, and it's worse that I can't go with them, but it will be worse yet if--"

"Can't go?" The girl looked seriously at the boy, then was struck with a horrid fear. "Shay? What... what happened to you?"

Shay closed his eyes with a sigh, then allowed his head to fall back into her lap in resignation. His heart felt as though it would shatter within his chest as he lay there, feeling her delicate paw winding its way through the fur atop his head. It was a moment that he wanted to hold on to in its entirety, but that he knew could not last. At first it had just been his leg that he could no longer feel or control, but now it was spreading to other limbs as well. And quickly. Even if he survived he would be crippled for life, and he would not even consider asking Ailora to be with him as his wife in that condition. She deserved so much more...

Shay opened his eyes and glanced at Patamon. "You... you are the Lord Takeru's familiar. The one he calls 'Pata'. I would have none but Ailora learn of my shame. Will you give us a moment alone?"

Patamon's eyes locked with the boy's, the grief in his words raw and unmistakable. A deep sorrow and shame, as if events beyond his control would forever restrict his pursuit of his heart's desire. And the little creature was certain that he knew where he'd seen that look and heard that sorrow before: to a much greater extent, it had been present in T.K. as the boy had sent him away to Kari in anticipation of his battle against the crystalline Fiend of Hatred, Roan. "We will," he nodded in respect, his long ears drooping just a bit to the side as the enormity of what the boy was going through became apparent to him. "Gatomon?"

The little feline frowned in response. "But what about T--"

Patamon shook his head to interrupt and moved to the far side of the cavern, and after a moment the other followed as well. If her counterpart had indeed developed the maturity that he'd exhibited earlier in the day, respect for that wisdom demanded that she trust his judgment in this matter. He'd obviously seen something here that she had not.

Shay craned his head to watch as the pair departed, then looked up at Ailora once again. He even managed to force a smile even as the muscles in his back continued to twitch uncomfortably and uncontrollably. "Should've known you wouldn't stay where you were supposed to, 'lora. Your mother should have, too. I would have reminded her to lock you in your room until this was all over if I'd known she wouldn't think of it on her own."

Time was pressing and the girl's mouth was dry with worry about what was wrong with the boy, but he'd always felt more comfortable at play than at being serious. And so Ailora smiled teasingly in response. "And have her cut down the tree on that side of the house too, I'll bet. Maybe put iron bars across the window and dig a moat in front of the door?"

Shay grimaced, shifting uncomfortably on the ground. His breath was coming in short gasps now. "Still wouldn't work, I guess. You'd just chew through the walls."

The girl smiled once more, then allowed it to fade to concern as she stroked his hair lightly. "Shay, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

The boy's teeth were chattering, almost as if he were cold, and his words sounded stammered as a result. "If... if I say no... will you go back home?"

She placed a paw against his furry cheek. "I'm not going to leave you, Shay. You're a great liar, but I know the real you. Now what happened?"

The warrior _a'ladon's_ head lolled to the side. "I... I started a fight that I couldn't finish, Ailora. Hurt...? I guess you could say that. And it's getting worse, too." He winced as he looked up at the girl. "You remember the story that your mother told us about when your father died?"

The girl bowed her head just a bit at the memory, then licked her lips to moisten them. "Your... back?"

"Among other things. It's already bad enough that I can't feel my legs, and my paws are tingling pretty seriously now, too. If I hadn't had to pull myself up to lean against that rock when you three came in, you never would've heard me. I sent Takeru and your brother away so they wouldn't waste their time on me. I don't think I'm going to last much longer."

The girl's face was expressionless for just a moment, then her mouth slowly opened in horror. "Last much... Shay! You're not hurt that bad! You're not going to die down here!"

"I though you... said I couldn't lie to you, 'lora. Listen to me. I'm not lying now. It's all I can do to stay conscious, and I have to keep reminding myself to breathe. There's some things you can break and still function pretty well without. This isn't one of them."

"But... but... you can't die."

The boy smiled. "I'll admit, the timing isn't very appropriate." Then he became gravely serious. "Do you know what I did two nights ago?"

Ailora swallowed. The question seemed completely out of place at the moment, but--

"I stayed up all night, standing in front of a mirror and talking to myself. Practicing, I guess... rehearsing what I was going to tell you the next day. I was going to leave home then and had no intention of ever going back. I... I'd lived my whole life looking for some place to fit in, and I was sure that I'd found it then. I left behind everything that I owned and that I couldn't carry in my little pack and took a vow to never set foot in my father's house again, because the life I found didn't include him. I'd never felt like family there. Never like I did around your mother, and Eloan... and you."

Tears were welling up in the young girl's eyes, because now she knew that the boy truly believed what he had said. And he'd almost just admitted to... "Shay? Will you tell me... tell me now what you were going to tell me then?"

Patamon and Gatomon were approaching them now, apparently having convinced themselves that time had run out on the conversation. But Shay now managed to shake his head in denial at the girl. His voice had lowered to a whisper, as if he did not want this most private of information passed on to any but her. "No, I won't Ailora. It would be wholly dishonorable for any dying man to ever repeat to anyone what I had planned to say."

But that had been as much as a confirmation for the girl, and she felt as if some giant hand had been placed around her heart and was squeezing hard. "T...Takeru's Vows? You were memorizing Takeru's Vows? Even though you didn't believe?"

"It was enough that you believed, 'lora. Even if I didn't. I do now, you know, and I think I could say it today with the conviction that my belief brought. But it wouldn't make me honor them any better."

Ailora's lips were quivering wildly and her face was furrowed tightly to prevent the onrush of tears. She turned her head in desperation, and very nearly bumped onto Patamon's head. She stared desperately at the little flying mammal. "Change," she said curtly.

Patamon looked askew at the girl.

"Please, change back to Pegasusmon. Shay's dying, and I have to take him out of here. If I can get him back to mother in time then maybe..."

But Gatomon stopped the _a'ladon _girl by grabbing her paw tightly. "Ailora... we know. But I haven't got the strength left to change, and Pata can't carry the two of you on his own. Not as weak as he is. And... and there are just some injuries that can't be fixed. Your mother is a gifted woman, but her skill is not meant for something like this."

There was a fire kindled in the girl's eyes as the little feline spoke. "I'm not going to let him die. I'm not... and neither are you."

Patamon had kept silent up until that moment, but now he moved in between the pair to stop the pending conflict. "Bring him with us," he suggested.

Gatomon turned to her counterpart in surprise. "Again, Pata?"

"He can ride on my back. And T.K.... well, the first time he was here, he saved one of them from death by making him evolve. If there's a chance..."

Gatomon's eyes focused more closely on the little mammal. That was a false hope, and both of them knew it. If T.K. had left the boy here in such a condition then he must have already discounted that possibility. But then she stopped, seeing that he did not believe it either. Was it merely an excuse to stop the argument, or perhaps something else? Another idea that had occurred to him that he was unwilling to voice for whatever reason? And so she decided to go along with whatever the other was planning, at least for now. "Agreed," she returned.

Shay grabbed feebly at Ailora's paw. "Ailora... don't do this. I can't help you down there. If you won't turn around and leave then don't make this harder on yourself than it already is. Don't shame us both by burdening yourself with me. All of us can accept that I'm going to die no matter what anyone does. Can't you do the same?"

The girl looked down at him, and there was a marked seriousness in her eyes. "No Shay, I won't. Even if you won't say them, I still expect you to live up to your vows. If I have to make you, then so be it. But if you won't do it for yourself, then I expect you to guard your own life in my honor. That was to be your vow, Shay, and I'm going to hold you to it."


	7. No Power Will Diminish Us

T.K.'s eyes narrowed as the demon-possessed horde crowded the narrow ledge that led to the cliff atop which he stood. The creatures were so fervent in their need to attack him that two were shoved off of the ridge by their comrades, falling into the pit below with a feral cry that they would not be permitted to meet this human in battle. The boy's hand gripped the hilt of Michael's holy Sword tightly, feeling the sheer magnitude of the weapon as its vigor ran down his arm and into his mortal body. His trepidation about being consecrated as Paragon once again fell away as his soul fused with the exalted Crest of Heroes, now ready to battle against an opponent that it had been forged to meet.

But still... they were cloaked in mortal shells. They would not be defeated as easily as if they had remained in their true spectral bodies. And there were almost forty of them, if he counted right...

"Eloan... this is the time about which your father would have spoken. The time to receive his consecration as your own. Are you ready?" the human boy asked as he leaned down towards the other.

The young _a'ladon _had already taken a more firm grip on the hilt of his weapon, and assumed a position at guard by T.K.'s side. But despite his readiness, his eyes were downcast in shame. "I am ready Lord... though I am afraid that I will fail you before long. I am only my father's son, and not my father himself. You have already seen that I am no warrior."

The enemy was closing now, and T.K. took his eyes off of the horde to look at the boy. "Neither was T'Kai, Eloan, but he became one when his time was at hand. And you _are _your father's son, blessed as he was blessed. All that it took for him was to speak the faith that was in his heart." Now the human held the great, golden sword of Michael the Archangel out to the _a'ladon _boy. "Take hold of the blade, Eloan. Touch it and invoke your heritage. You are the scion of kings and the son of a holy Paragon. Receive the Light."

Eloan's paw was trembling violently as he stretched it towards the golden blade, and he seemed to falter after a moment. "Lord... I--"

T.K.'s eyes, engulfed by the blue halo of holy power, locked with those of the other. And now the Crest of Hope and the boy's spirit were bound together, and as one they spoke to the _a'ladon _child. "Eloan, have faith. The true believers are all servants of the One. As we are, we cannot do this alone..."

Eloan stood in awe as he heard the other speak. _His father's charge to him! _Lord Takeru served the One. His own father T'Kai had done the same. Could he do less and allow them to fail?

He stretched his trembling paw forward once again, and this time wrapped it tightly around the radiant edge of the Lord Takeru's sword. The sharp blade of the human's weapon warmed comfortably in the boy's paw without injuring him, and flickered briefly with an acknowledgement of him. Eloan's heart was now beating out a powerful rhythm and had never felt more alive as he murmured quietly in response to T.K.. "My father's faith is my own, and his Lord is my Lord. I shall serve the One."

The Sword of Ages exploded in divine joy and with a dazzling light that was beyond intense. The sigil of the Crest of Hope upon the hilt sent a burst of golden power past the cross-guard and to Eloan's paw where he held the blade, then down the boy's arm to swallow him in its aura. The onrushing horde of demon-possessed creatures stopped in place, many shielding their eyes against a holy presence that they could not withstand.

Eloan winced and bowed his head as his young body was transfigured by Heaven's Light, his chest broadening and his arms and legs lengthening proportionally. His snout and ears narrowed, and in response his senses quickly became infinitely more aware of what was happening around him. The sword in his right paw became lighter, though the boy was dimly aware that it was certainly his strength that had been altered and not the weapon's weight. Raising his arms with the thrill of exaltation, Eloan gave a wordless, joyous shout to his father's Master and the legions of Paragons past.

But now the onrushing horde was upon them, _a'ladon_ and Saurian both. T.K. had shifted his grip on his massive, flaming sword and now held the hilt tightly in both hands as he advanced through the crowd, swinging the blade in massive arcs and cutting his assailants down as they advanced on him. Eloan, in contrast, leapt backwards and danced away from the remainder of the creatures, holding his blade in one paw while instinctively springing off of the black stone floor.

T.K. was now surrounded on three sides by a dozen of the creatures, his back to the cavern wall as the demon-possessed jabbed at him with their own blades that radiated varying shades of darkness. The golden light of the Crest of Hope was smothering the black magics of their unholy weapons, of course, but outnumbered as he was he could do little but hold his ground.

But then, as luck would have it, one of the Saurians ventured close and thrust his spear-like blade at the human boy's side. T.K. reeled away from the blow and swung his own weapon in a massive arc on the return, severing the lizard-like creature's head cleanly from its shoulders and sending its body to the floor in a widening pool of blood. The holy sword flashed as the skeletal spirit of the little imp was thrown from its protective mortal shell, and with a frail squeal of pain it was dispersed into thin air.

Eloan moved quickly to prevent himself from being surrounded in a similar manner, knowing that his own sword would not keep the creatures at bay as Lord Takeru's was. Driven by the instinct that his new, infinitely more athletic body brought, the boy leapt backwards and sprung off of the fingertips of one paw, landing in a crouch on the floor with his blade in front of him. He almost allowed himself a smirk, wishing that Ailora and Shay had been here to see that.

But he had no time to be pleased with himself, and rolled to the side as one of the advancing Saurians unleashed a stream of its dark, venomous spittle directly at his eyes. Two a'ladon warriors in a zombie-like state of consciousness suddenly appeared at the boy's side and made a move to run their short swords through his unguarded chest. But their movements were far too sluggish and stiff to assail him in his new body, and the young minstrel caught both of the smaller blades across his sword and forced them upwards. Then, with the same motion, he dropped to one knee and slashed at the unprotected legs of the pair. The single attack caught both of the creatures at once, tearing open the upper leg muscles of each and sending them to the floor with howls of agony.

"Eloan, don't kill them with the sword!" T.K. shouted breathlessly. "The demons are trapped inside of them while they're still alive. Try to force them off the cliff--!" And then the voice of the human boy trailed off into a wordless shout as he was swarmed under by his assailants.

Eloan's vulpine ears acknowledged the human Paragon's admonition at once, and without hesitating he caught one of the wounded creatures up by the collar of his uniform, hurling him from the cavern wall and into the magma far below the battlefield. Eloan was astounded at his new strength, but had no time to reflect on it now. Even as he slipped in the blood of the creatures that pooled on the floor at his feet, the remainder of the demon-infested army surged around him.

T.K. swung his blade around himself in enormous, two-handed arcs to create an impassible barrier to the creatures that pressed him back against the cavern wall. He could attack and possibly eliminate several at once with the Crest of Heroes as it was now, but that would leave his flank open to attack from the other side. He could set the air around them all on fire with the holy power of the weapon, but would it fell them all before one of their weapons was thrust into his back? He was mortal now, and fully intended to remain so, but that also meant that a single lucky thrust could end his life... and he dared not fail Kari so.

The faces of the creatures were twisted and distorted now, and the demons inside of each spat their hatred at him while feigning lunges towards whichever flank was exposed. The human boy caught a glimpse of the evolved form of Eloan fighting a fair distance away, and he silently berated himself for letting the two of them get separated. Michael's Sword in his hand could actually bring these possessed creatures a final death... Eloan's more mundane weapon could not. And he needed someone to guard his back while he dispatched their unholy opponents.

But then there came a cry from somewhere above him and at his back, and the name that the voice called for was one that the boy was not expecting to hear at that moment...

__

"T.K.!"

To turn would have meant death, but still he knew the voice. "Pegasusmon! Help!" he cried back.

"Takeru! Lord Takeru!" a shrill, female voice called. "Lord, catch!"

Out of the corner of his eye the young human saw a bright light falling towards him, and he recognized it at once... though why it was with Pegasusmon and Ailora and not with Kari he could not fathom. Now his blue eyes were once again engulfed in the holy halo of cobalt light, and the Crest of Heroes bound directly to his soul. Communication between the two was now completely seamless, and it knew instantly what his command would be.

__

Call it home... to us now... call it home...

And as Michael's Crest had bound to him, now Gabriel's called his name from a distance. And the boy Paragon, the last and only who had declined his ascension when it had come upon him, heard the clarion shout of the Ward... _and understood it_. And of course, its voice was the voice of Gabriel and of Cheyne and of the thousands of different embodiments that the immortal creature had ever worn.

__

I place myself between His Children and the Fallen, that they might know Peace. I am called to Joy, but called first to Suffer.

The Paragon's Creed. Perhaps Cheyne's own private message to him, though he could not pause to think on it now. And so he raised his left hand in a closed fist as the Crest of Light became as a volant streak of white fire that cut through the darkness of the chamber and fell to earth, exploding against the boy's forearm with a pyrotechnic discharge. The small army of the demon-possessed held up their hands to shield their mortal eyes against the glare of holy light, and one slipped over the precipice and into oblivion so desperate was he to escape the brilliance.

T.K. was staggered a moment as the great power of the Crest of Light coalesced into Gabriel's Ward, a long bracer that covered the boy's arm from the back of his hand to his elbow and would serve as his shield. He was still mortal, barely, but was now in possession of two relics of divine power, and the consequences of having both active and on his person at the same time nearly overwhelmed him...

...but not for long. The Crests of Hope and of Light both knew and respected him as their heavenly Masters knew and respected him, and they each submitted to his will with very little resistance. Now, as the army of _a'ladon _and Saurian warriors approached him again, the boy was able to counter their attacks in a manner more benefiting a warrior Paragon.

The first comer was an _a'ladon _soldier, who raised his sword high above his head and rushed at the boy with reckless abandon. T.K. quickly took in the position of the creature's allies relative to the first assailant, then dropped to one knee and leveled the Sword of Ages at it.

The fanatical assault came to a rather violent end as the furry creature succeeded only in impaling himself chest-first upon T.K.'s blade. Its eyes went vacant instantly, and it was only then that the boy Paragon heard the squealings from its throat as the small demon inside realized the position it had placed itself in. It could not divest itself from the mortal body that it had possessed until that body was dead, and though the human had pierced that mortal body he had not stabbed it through the heart in order to kill it.

Now the golden fire of the Crest of Heroes exploded throughout the sword's blade, and the holy power raged forth to not only char the insides of the _a'ladon _warrior's body, but also the infinitely more resilient body of the little imp that had taken possession of it. If the mortal shells that the creatures had possessed afforded them some vague protection from the raging inferno that Michael's Sword could unleash at T.K.'s command, they also held them safely until the more mundane blows of the weapon could cut through the flesh to cremate the imps from the inside.

As T.K. fought forward and into the larger crowd of the possessed, Gatomon and Ailora joined the girl's twin in the fray against the lesser. Pegasusmon stayed well away from the battle, and could only watch from a distance. Shay was still on his back, slumped against his equine neck, and the armored stallion dared not make any further move to jostle the crippled boy. As it was, he spoke to the young prince and described to him the battle as it unfolded, since the other could no longer even manage to raise his head to look.

"Gatomon and Ailora have fought their way through to Eloan's side, and now all three are standing together to defend one another's backs. They are surrounded by perhaps a dozen enemies, _a'ladon _and Saurian both. The footing is treacherous, as the floor at their feet is covered in blood. Another assailant is wounded on the floor just in front of Eloan... I believe that he is the source of the blood."

Shay's breathing was raspy as he spoke. "How... are the Saurians... armed?"

Pegasusmon's eyes narrowed, and he gave a very brief nod. Being battle tested himself, he understand the crux of the other's question. "With spears of a sort. Yes, that will be problematic. With Eloan so much taller than Ailora and both of them much taller than Gatomon--"

"What... what do you mean, taller?" The _a'ladon _interrupted. "Eloan... Eloan and Ailora are the same height..."

"If that is normally the case, then it may be that T.K. has caused Eloan to evolve. For he certainly is taller than her now. In any event, it will make it difficult for either of the girls to effectively guard his back against a spear thrust. And now he is shouting at them. It is hard to hear over the noise of the battle, but I believe that he is telling them not to kill their assailants."

Ailora chanced to turn and glare over her shoulder at her twin brother. "What?" she demanded, certain that she hadn't heard correctly.

"'lora, don't! I know it doesn't make any sense right now, but you can't kill them with your sword! Into the fire is the only way, else let Lord Takeru do it!"

The girl was hot, worried and angry now. Everything was going wrong, and she felt a sudden need to pour her temper out on the small army that surrounded them... only now, apparently she wasn't allowed to do that, either. The creatures were moving about them in a counterclockwise circle, and the girl was clever and fast enough with her sword to keep their spears from penetrating their position. But if they weren't allowed to fight back, how long could they keep it up?

Then a Saurian's spear whistled over her shoulder, cutting it deeply. Ailora gave a brief cry of pain, and instinctively thrust back with her sword.

The girl's thrust was true, and the blade pierced the Saurian's chest and impaled him there as the evil creature stumbled backwards and crumpled to the ground. But to her horror, the weapon remained held fast in the other's body and the hilt was wrenched from her paw even as her opponent lost his life to it. "Eloan!" the girl shouted, making certain that her brother knew that their defensive alignment had been breached.

The demon-possessed creatures surged around the trio as Eloan forced his way to the nearby cavern wall, almost dragging his sister and a struggling Gatomon along. He shoved the other two behind him, then passed his sword to Ailora and lifted the little feline digimon by her arms and literally threw her from the rapidly closing circle.

Gatomon was surprised, but was as graceful and nimble as ever and came down on all fours some distance from the a'ladon pair and their assailants.

Now Eloan intertwined his paws and quickly knelt on the ground, nodding his head at his sister. "Ailora!" he shouted.

The girl looked down. Surely he didn't expect to boost her out of the circle like he'd used to when they had been younger. She was so much heavier now than she had been at the time...

...but then, neither was Eloan the scrawny boy that had nearly collapsed beneath his sister's weight at the time. Now he was a true giant among _a'ladon_, and she didn't doubt for an instant that he could bear her weight. But even as big as he was... to leave him here alone...

"Eloan..."

The army was bearing down on them now. "'lora... I love you! Now go! Shay needs you!" And he nodded fiercely as the girl placed her foot in his conjoined paws, and then the twin children moved as one: Eloan lifting and Ailora springing forth from her brother's boost. The girl was flung well over the head of their assailants, and she cursed as she dropped the sword, bracing herself to land on all fours. At least she should have had the sense to leave the thing with her brother to defend himself with. Her arrival hadn't helped the boy any at all, instead it had only deprived him of his only weapon.

And now he realized it as well as the army moved in their zombie-like state towards him. The boy backed off in consternation until he found his back pressed up against the cold, uneven surface of the cavern wall. He was breathing heavily now, and looked for any crack in the oncoming horde that he might penetrate.

He found none.

He reached into the small pouch at his side, but came up with nothing more useful than his father's old whistle and the hilt of his father's broken sword. The army of the demon-possessed was so close now that he could smell their fetid breath and could hear the clicking of their long claws on the stone floor. Three spears went up as one, each one aimed directly for the boy's heart. Eloan closed his eyes and turned his head away. "Father..." he murmured. "Father... I've failed you. And soon will be at your side in paradise... Father."

And then there was a collective gasp from the assembled creatures. Eloan, back still to the wall, dared open one eye to steal a glance.

There was the golden form of the Paragon T'Kai, standing in front of his son with arms outstretched to shield him from the evil soldiers. There was a fond smile on the great, holy warrior's face as he acknowledged the boy. And then he took the hilt of the sword from his son and studied it closely. "To my side, Eloan? Yes, but not the final time just yet. I cannot put into words how much I long for your company, son, but you are not finished here." He nodded at the hilt of his weapon as he passed it back into the boy's paw. "Take your cue from Lord Takeru, son. _Call it home..."_

And now, as his father guarded him, Eloan pulled a deep breath into his lungs. The air around him now was sweet, no longer sulfurous, and at once it emboldened the young boy's spirit and set the holy blue halo loose to dance within his eyes. From far across the cavern Eloan could hear the blade that Jeron had pulled from the chest of the demon singing to him, and the metal hilt in his paws was now warm and surrounded by a powerful, golden fire.

__

Call it home, son...

The boy said nothing, and stood as a soldier to attention as his father's form vanished. He was holding the hilt of the weapon above his head as if in salute, and across the way he could see the blade as it rose like a golden star to the ceiling of the cavern.

And then that star fell upon the boy, streaking downwards to embrace the partner that it had lost so long ago.

T'Kai's holy blade was reforged in an instant of divine power, and now Eloan did not hesitate to attack. As the Lord Takeru's blade cut through the enemies at his side, so did his father's sword sweep away his own assailants. Several fell away at once, and those who did not were eradicated as quickly by a blade that had not been dulled by years of disuse. The demons inside sought to flee as their mortal shells were cut down, but Eloan was faster and ended their miserable existences with the golden fire that sprung forth from his weapon.

T.K. gave a wordless shout of anger as he cornered his three remaining opponents. His hands and clothes were bloodstained by this point, but it was no longer of any consequence to him. He was a Paragon at heart, if not quite in body, and could hear the Paragons of ages past singing their glory to him in a chorus as he destroyed the minions of their Enemy. The trio that remained snarled and hissed at him, and the Saurian opened its mouth to spray the black ichor of its race at his eyes... but the venom was at once checked and rendered harmless by the auroral bracer on the boy's left wrist. The _a'ladon _stabbed their spears at him in tandem, but the Sword of Ages easily sheared the metal blades off of the wooden shafts of the weapons.

And then the human boy rushed upon the trio, impaling the Saurian with his golden weapon and driving it back with such force that the blade not only thrust through the creature's body but also became imbedded in the cavern wall behind it. T.K. released his grip on the blade and turned to smash Gabriel's Ward into the face of his second opponent, and the blow was delivered with such force that the _a'ladon's_ head snapped back and, in the process, shattered its spine in several places. Now turning, the golden-haired boy grabbed the last of the three by its furry collar and turned in place, hurling it over the narrow walkway of the cavern and into the deadly fires far below.

Now T.K. and Eloan were left alone in the center of the battlefield, as Ailora and Gatomon had retreated to the side of Pegasusmon. Both of the boys were breathing quite heavily, and behind a sweaty mass of blond hair there was a haunted look in T.K.'s eyes as he retrieved his weapon. With both holy artifacts active on his person at that moment, he had never been as close to Heaven as he was then. He could hear the stunned silence among the Celestial Paragons, they who constantly called him home to fellowship with them. And then, from among them, the voice of a young girl... one who had wielded Michael's Sword for a brief period of time almost six hundred years earlier.

"_Les deux?_ Il ne devrait pas pouvoir faire cela..."

T.K. heard the exclamation, and then watched as the light bled from each of the Arms until they were once again back in their more mundane forms of the Crests. She was right, of course. He shouldn't be able to use them both at once. Not without accepting the exaltation that came with such power. He looked down at the Crest of Light that was fastened to his wrist by the seemingly innocuous silver bracelet that Kari had bound it within.

T.K. started, turning as he felt the others approach his back. Pegasusmon drew near to him gently, lest he jostle the crippled boy on his back, and greeted his human partner by resting his head against the boy's shoulder. The young human Paragon looked over them all, wanting to speak to them each of so many things and yet not having the time. Kari was in D'assan's grasp, and he would be forever damned if he was going to leave her there.

Eloan, evolved and with his Father's sword now whole and within his grasp.

Gatomon, who should not be in this world at all but back on Earth and at Kari's side.

Ailora, with a look in her eyes that said that she would have rushed into his arms in greeting were it not for the fact that she had found a much greater responsibility to Shay, who was limp and lay crumpled atop Pegasusmon's back.

And the armored stallion himself. T.K. placed a welcoming hand on the creature's forehead. Kari had evidently come to this world and now been captured because of it, but he had no words of blame for the digimon. He knew that Pegasusmon loved Kari greatly, and would have given all at his partner's request to keep the girl from coming here. The fact that he'd failed spoke mainly to Kari's stubbornness and, doubtless, the influence of the Other Side.

The eyes of the pair locked, and Pegasusmon peered at the boy with a seriousness in his eyes that spoke volumes of his concern. "T.K.? Are you still... you?"

T.K. smiled gently in return. "I'm still me, Pata. I can hear the call, but I haven't answered it. Not yet, though it pulls at my heart even now." And then he looked down at the limp form of Shay, and at Ailora as she gently held the young prince's paw in her own.

The girl looked up at him, tears welling within her eyes. "Lord... Lord Takeru... please. Shay's hurt so bad. You can't-- You can't let him die. I've believed in you all of my life, and now he does too. I'd always... always thought that nobody could mean to me what you mean to me, but Shay does now, even if he didn't quite before. I know what you feel for Lady Hikari, else you wouldn't be here, but _I _wouldn't be here if it weren't for Shay, Lord. There must be something that you can do for him. _Please_."

T.K. was moved, almost to tears by the girl's pleading, but had no words of comfort to offer her. For though he could use Michael's great blade to erupt mountains and carve his way through a legion of demons should it became necessary to, it could do nothing to save the injured boy. Already the young human could hear the ragged breathing in Shay's lungs begin to slow to a halt. He started to shake his head...

But at that moment, Ailora leapt forward and grabbed the human boy's left hand and drew it to her face, grasping it tightly with both paws and kissing it repeatedly. T.K. bowed his head and gritted his teeth in shame, but at that moment the Crest of Light on his wrist came alive and sent a jolt of power that ran up his arm and through his body straight to his heart. The human Paragon gasped as he once again felt the pull of Heaven and heard the holy call in his ears, and now his eyes were swallowed up in a _silver _halo of light as another voice intruded upon his thoughts.

__

But you can... The choice is yours, Takeru, as it has ever been.

The voice was Gabriel's, and it did not surprise the boy to hear it. The angel had gifted Kari with the Ward in its guise as the Crest of Light bare moments after Michael had laid the Sword in his own hand.

__

But she is not what you are. Young as you were, even you could not have held both then as you do now. And as it was your spirit that kept her alive, a certain part of you came to live within her. So it was in her to hold my Ward and employ its most basic of gifts... at least for a time, and until you matured to it.

The blade of my Brother... yes, it can cleanse the world to sanctity at your command. But you would not be holding it if you had any desire to use it so. In the end, it will both begin and bring an end to the Armageddon, and the timing of that battle is not yours to choose. But the skirmishes between our side and theirs? By all means. Defend the righteous. Strike the Fallen. You are Paragon, and no evil is in you.

But my Ward has a power as potent, if more benign. Great love is in you to be what you are, Takeru, and through that love you may make right what wrongs evil has wrought. In your years, you have come to understand the fight against the Fallen. But your understanding of all manner of love is still imperfect. Not of the love that you hold for Hikari or for those close to you, but love for all souls... even those that may not merit it.

"Ailora?"

The girl still had not released his hand, and held to it firmly... almost as though it were all that kept Shay clinging to life. "Lord..." Her voice failed her to a whisper past quivering lips, and she began again. "Blessed Lord, don't, please. Please don't say that you can do nothing for him."

T.K. placed his other hand upon the softness of the girl's head. And he smiled very gently. He cared for these creatures greatly, and with her help would try to see Shay through to life. "I can, Ailora... I can. But I must have your help now. I am fond of you and your race, and your family in particular that has loved me in return since time that has fallen from your histories. But it is a failing that I cannot love best without familiarity, and you alone can be the one to bridge the gap between my affection for Shay and love for him."

Still hand in hand, T.K. led the _a'ladon_ girl to Pegasusmon and the crippled child atop his back. "To what end will you keep him alive, Ailora? Be certain that you do not ask this in the heat of passion at seeing a good friend on the verge of death, for the joining that you are pleading for will create a bond both eternal and unbreakable. As one who has been so bound, I promise that you will exist inside of him and he inside of you. You will be of one body and of one spirit. His pain and his joy and his strength and his sorrow will be yours, and yours his. It is the most complex promise given mortals to make."

Ailora's tear-stained eyes rose to meet his, and found that a silver fire danced within their blue depths. "Lord... I will forsake all others and everything to him. That was to be his Vow to me, as was yours to Her Grace. If you say now that I will pour out my life into his body to let his continue, I would not hesitate even for an instant."

The boy who was still human, and yet not human, nodded. It was what he'd had to hear. "No Ailora. Your sacrifice for him will be enduring, and will be one of great joy if you speak true. The hurt is mine to bear, and shall be my last, best gift to the two of you. As your father was so I am. I am called to Joy, but for those I love am called first to suffer."

And then the human boy took their conjoined hands and placed them, the girl's paw first, palm down upon the back of the young a'ladon prince. T.K. closed his eyes in silent commune with Gabriel's Ward. He was weak already, and this would make him moreso before the pending battle, but if it was given to him to bring healing as well as sanctity then he could do no less.

"His heart, Ailora... do you feel it? I will return to him the gift of life as I can, but you must guide it to where it is needed."

She looked pensively at the hand of the human boy as it covered hers, and swallowed deeply. "Lord? I... I'm frightened."

T.K. allowed himself a weak smile as Crest of Light gave him insight. It was speaking to him so quickly, and giving him instructions so complex that he almost missed the feeling of anxiety from the girl. "That you will fail him? All who love dread that one great failure. But be at peace. Your heart is great, and you are your father's daughter. It is not in you to fail."

Ailora opened her mouth to answer him, but her response trailed off into a wordless gasp as a sharp, tingling sensation started on the roof of her paw. She looked down at their conjoined hands, watching with astonishment as the impression of a soft, visible light ran from the pink talisman bound about the human's wrist, through his hand and hers and into Shay's broken form. And at that instant, she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

But what...? She was no doctor. She would have asked Lord Takeru where she was supposed to guide this to, but her Great Lord was now clearly oblivious to his surroundings. His eyes were closed and his face inclined slightly upwards in a commune with powers that she could only guess at. Shay had said that his back was hurt, and she directed her consciousness inwards to that point. But along the way, she was struck with a greater concern. His heart... his breath...

"Shay," she murmured over the sound of his ragged breath. "Hold on, Shay. I'm coming."

The girl concentrated on the damage to the boy's organs, then gave a short gasp of surprise and of pleasure as the life seeping through her paw and into Shay's body found a vessel for its benevolent power. In her mind she could see the strands of pink light as they wove themselves into the body of the young prince, mending the damage that evil had wrought, and in her ears she could hear the boy as he started to breath easily once more.

Eloan looked to Pegasusmon, then to Gatomon. He'd placed his father's sword into the sheath at his side, and thanks to his evolution now stood eye to eye with the stallion. "When will we...?" He trailed off, as something appeared in the corner of his eye. "What's that?"

Gatomon turned where Pegasusmon could not, looking to where the boy had indicated. There was something... no. Only a shadow, she was certain. A dark shadow that looked to be moving only because of the red glow of the magma far below that provided light to the cavern. But it did appear to be moving very quickly and purposefully for a shadow.

But now Pegasusmon lifted his nose above the pair, and strained to sift through the thick odor of sulfur in the air. "Demon," he said gravely and in warning to the pair.

Eloan drew his father's sword in one fluid motion and held it in front of his face. A thin line of golden fire was still evident upon the blade, and the boy heard Gatomon as she fell into a combative crouch at his side. The eyes of each, sharp as they were, could now make out the form of the creature despite the effortless speed at which it was moving. At their back, Pegasusmon frowned. He wanted to call T.K. to arms, but knew from experience that he did not dare disturb the boy while in such a commune with the heavenly host. But this was all wrong. _One that they missed?_

"Truce!" called a voice from the shadows that moved. A thick, raspy voice that reverberated off the cavern ceiling and walls and far into the pit at their side. "Truce, once more. Your Master the Lord Takeru would not look kindly on your violating the truce that he and I have forged to save his Lady Hikari."

Eloan lowered his sword, looking into the shadows with astonishment. It lied. Certainly a lie. Lord Takeru would never...

He risked a glance down at Gatomon, who had not relaxed in her stance. She lowered her voice, and addressed Pegasusmon. "I say we kill it anyway."

"Even if it aids him in her rescue?" the golden stallion answered in a stern voice. "By his own admission, one of them was helping him. Honor the truce that it claims, but be ready to strike if the event of treachery."

"The certainty of treachery, I'd say," the feline warrior returned. But nonetheless she stepped forward and called into the darkness. "Truce, then! But no deceit, demon! The least hint of sorcery from you and we'll return you to the darkness shorter by a head."

Pegasusmon could feel the injured boy upon his back as he began to stir. With any grace at all, it would mean that T.K. would soon return to consciousness in order to handle this creature himself. Neither he nor Gatomon, nor the boy Eloan, he was certain, had the experience necessary to speak with the dark creature without risking their very souls.

And then the demon slipped forward from the shadows, leaving a blurred afterimage in its wake as it moved towards the three. Gatomon clenched a fist tightly within her clawed glove, but made no move to advance on the creature. It was, she noticed, in the guise of one of the _a'ladon_... much as the others that they had battled earlier.

But now Eloan gasped, and he lowered his blade until its keen edge was resting upon the ground. His eyes narrowed at the fiend as it approached, and the boy struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. It was clothed in a very fine attire, and upon its head rested a thin gold crown that encircled its brow above its ears. The boy took one single step forward, and addressed the other. "Jeron...?"

The king of the _a'ladon, _or at least a visage of the creature, turned to respond. "You may address me as such, if it pleases you," it answered, the harsh voice grating on Eloan's sensitive ears. And seeing the look of disdain on the other's face and misinterpreting it, he pulled open the front of his kingly robes to reveal a sickening black scorch mark upon his chest. "For the moment, we are... sharing this form."

Pegasusmon's eyes did not move from the creature, so intent was he on watching for the anticipated attack. "Is the king of the _a'ladon_ dead, then?"

The demon, as Jeron, had obviously been hoping for a more animated response from the trio. The damage that the Sword of Ages had wrought upon the body was intense. His eyes rolled to T.K.'s uplifted face. "Wake him."

Pegasusmon shook his head slightly, to avoid jarring the young prince resting upon his back. "No. Not before he has finished."

"Do you command in the absence of your Master, then?" the other demanded. "Very well. Know that, even now, our mutual enemy is arming himself with the weapons of ultimate darkness. To him _our _Master has opened the armories of my home, and BaalMerodach has brought forth instruments of torment that have seen naught but fire and death for almost two thousand of your years. Takeru, even girt with the arms of the _Exemplar_, will not stand against him."

But Pegasusmon stood impassive before the creature. "You cannot be trusted in anything that you say. He has stood victorious over the indomitable before, and with the aid of the Father will do so again."

The eyes of the possessed king narrowed at the stallion. "You are staking all of our lives on knowledge you cannot possibly possess, _beast_."

Now Gatomon interrupted. "Enough. You do not command here, be you king or demon or both. If you have submitted yourself to T.K.'s ends then you will capitulate to his will or you will begone."

But at that moment the argument became extraneous, as Shay gave a loud inhale of a breath and tumbled from Pegasusmon's back. Ailora and T.K. both snapped from their respective reveries at once, with the girl kneeling at the side of the prince in alarm and the human boy staggering forward to lean against the golden flank of his partner. His breathing was heavy and sweat was dripping from his forehead to pool upon the ground, but he did remain conscious.

A moment passed in silence before Eloan spoke. "Lord?"

T.K.'s eyes fluttered open, and in a another moment he left the side of Pegasusmon to stand, unsteadily, upon his own feet once again. He nodded weakly. "Eloan." And then he glanced at the boy's side, and in surprise continued, "Jeron?"

Gatomon shook her head in silence, and T.K. caught the gesture of warning that she directed at him. Just beneath the robes of the king, the human boy could make out the boundaries of the scorched flesh that Michael's Sword had wrought, and he grimaced while locking eyes with the figure of Jeron. "BaalBerith," he concluded. "Did he invite you to take possession, then?"

"Some prefer shared immortality with a demon rather than risk death at the end of an angelic blade, Takeru."

T.K. tried his hardest to put upon his face the anger that he felt in his heart, but he was simply too weak to do so. "And you, in your way, would have neglected to inform him that his life was in no danger. We both know that the Sword of Ages cannot kill on accident."

The dark creature refused to be chastised. "It was his choice, _Exemplar_, and a willing one. You cannot unmake it for him, and there is no point in scourging his body to release his spirit. You have already sworn to the boy prince not to end his father's life."

The Crest of Hope was still within T.K.'s clenched fist, and now it leapt into life and quickly manipulated energy into matter to reforge Michael's holy blade in the hand of the boy Paragon. T.K. leapt forward, his eyes alight with blue fire, grabbed the creature by the collar and brought the golden sword within inches of the other's face. "I should finish you now, bastard of Hell!" he shouted, angry with the both of them for bringing about this end for Shay's father.

Moments passed in silence except for the sound of T.K.'s heavy breathing, and then, without fuel to burn, the fire went out in the boy's blue eyes. The tip of his holy blade lowered slowly to the ground, and he released his hold upon the other's throat. Berith was right. Even if Jeron had been deceived, there was no help for it now. In any event, he no longer had the strength left to argue the point. He leaned upon his weapon, and the demon looked at him in discomfort. "You have wasted your strength getting to this point, _Exemplar_, and squandered what little you had left by pouring it into the body of the male child. You would have been better served letting me convey you to this place. How do you hope to defeat Merodach now?"

"Father?"

Shay was on his feet now, with Ailora at his side, and there was no weakness or sign of injury upon the boy as he stepped between T.K. and Jeron. The eyes of the young prince narrow as he peered at the other... "Or not my father," he continued sadly. "So you finally gave in and joined your witches in their debaucheries? Surrendered your soul for power, father?"

Ailora slid a hand onto Shay's shoulder, and whispered into his ear questioningly. "Shay?"

"My father's counselors, Ailora. Aine and her sister Moya. Novices in the occult until they took on a more personal relationship with something that they called on for power. This is my father's flesh and my father's form, but there is little left of the soul that was his." The prince stopped, and grimaced. "Do I hit close to the mark, demon? Can my father even hear my words in his own ears?"

The other sneered at the boy. "He hears, child. And if you would have him back, aid in completing our mission instead of interrupting it! You have caused Takeru to expend far too much time and energy on your worthless self already. Now be silent!"

Ailora made as if to move at the creature, but her brother stopped her with a paw upon her shoulder. "Enough," he said, stepping between the other three _a'ladon_. "My Lord Takeru is competent to lead once again, and it is he who has authority over us all."

T.K., meanwhile, had made his way back to Pegasusmon's side. He placed a gentle hand upon the other's mane and leaned heavily upon his flank. "Pata?"

The golden stallion craned his head over his shoulder to look at his partner, and his eyes narrowed with alarm as he saw the pallor of the other's face and the tormented look in his eyes. "T.K.? What's wrong? What's happened?"

The boy managed a very weary shake of the head. "Don't ask, Pata, listen. Please. I don't think I have much time left to say this to you. I haven't got anything left... and I'm going to have to let the Crest of Hope take me to save Kari. I suppose that I should have known that at the outset, but was too stubborn to admit it. So I want you to take the others home. Get them out of here. If I do have to ascend to get Kari back, the battle between BaalMerodach and I is going to destroy this mountain. None of you can be in here when that happens."

The face of the winged horse fell. "So you've given up, then? You can't even try any longer?" And there was no condemnation in the voice of the creature, no guilt placed upon his young friend's back that he was not doing all that he could to avoid this. He knew, more than any other, what it had cost the boy to remain with them all so far, and could see how close the other was to tears of grief.

T.K.'s expression was haunted. "Patamon... I can feel it all now. Everything from the start...everything, Pata, and it hurts more than anything I could have ever imagined." He placed his hand over his chest. "Do... do you remember when Kari was dying all those years ago? When she'd given up and her heart was bleeding the life from her? I stopped it then, for her, but I've carried it inside me ever since. My heart has been ever bleeding with the same pain that hers did then, even if I kept it inside the whole time. And when I fought against Tai to save her? The bruises are still there, Pata."

"Don't ask me why, but it's _all _still there. Or is there again... I don't know which. When Lady Darkness poisoned my mind with her lust and dark magic? It's still there. The first battle against D'assan, when I came home looking so bad that mom wanted to rush me to the hospital? The fight against Roan and the Fiends, when I should have died?" He placed his hand on the opposite side of his stomach, and now as Pegasusmon stared he was certain that he too could see the enormous, gaping lesion just below the boy's ribs that was glistening with a thick, yellow ichor. The creature blinked once, and it was gone. Gone... but still... "Patamon... it's _all _still there."

"T.K..." the other started, and then stopped before he could choke on the lump in his throat. When he began again, it was in a much lower tone. "T.K., if you tell me... if you order me to leave then I will. But I'm asking you as a friend not to do that. I don't care what you become after this, and I don't care if you and the demon horde tear this mountain down around my head. If this is going to be your last battle, then let me stand beside you in it just like I've stood beside you in all of the others."

"T.K., I am mortal, and one day will be no more. If I join you now, and fall at your side, then there is no more noble effort that I could have ever fought for. And if I should live out my years in peace without you with me, I will have cursed myself every day until that time that I left you here at the last."

T.K., for his part, no longer felt any reservations about tears, and felt them begin to roll down his cheeks at the other's words. "I can't order you around, Pata. That's never how it has been between us. But I don't want you to see me like that, whatever happens. I want to be here and to tell you that I'll always love you, and to remember how it used to be. You saw what happened before; what I'm going to become. I don't want to be some powerful, indifferent... thing that stands over you and Kari and looks on you each as a little lost kitten in need of pity instead of a close friend deserving of love. You both deserve so much more than that. I can't save her from seeing me like that, but I can save you from it."

Now the silence in the cavern was noticeable, as the argument from the remainder of the little unit had trailed off into nonexistence. Pegasusmon turned to the others, and in particular to Gatomon, seeking input from them all.

But it was Eloan who first stepped forward to address the human boy. "Lord... I confess that I cannot possibly know what will happen down in that place. But I must believe that my father sent me with you for a purpose, and a purpose that has not yet been fulfilled. And so, if you will have it, my sword... such as it is, will stay in your service until the end."

Ailora and Shay were standing quite still, holding one another's paws tightly, and it was the girl who spoke for the both of them. "Lord, with your very life you have given back what evil would have taken from me. Having been the vessel for your power, I know what you have sacrificed on Shay's behalf where no other can. And so we both will remain with you until we see Her Grace at your side once again. Even if you were to command it we would not leave... we will serve you to redeem the price you have paid for him."

Gatomon looked genuinely surprised to see T.K. turn to her next, and raised a single eyebrow in response. "Do you even have to ask? Kari is as much my responsibility as she is yours... or at least very nearly. If you think for an instant that I'm going to see her married to a demon instead of to you then you haven't learned a thing about me since we met eight years ago. Not to mention the fact that I owe the sister Moya a few scars from our first meeting."

Jeron's back was to the rest. "Be blunt, _Exemplar_. I care nothing for you nor you for me. From the beginning our purposes have been intertwined. They remain so. You will not be rid of me until one of us falls, or else our mission is complete."

Pegasusmon laid his head on T.K.'s shoulder as he spoke. "T.K...? What kind of friend leaves at the last and when all hope is gone? Do you remember the story that you told me? Of how your God was abandoned at the last by his friends, and how deep was their regret? If I were to leave you now it would tear a hole in my heart that would pain me for the rest of my life. Yes, I know what you will become. But I do not believe that your love for me will cease, no matter how the Paragons regard mortals, because for me you are more than a friend, and more than a partner. I will remain with you until the end, and no power, good or evil, will diminish us."

The Sword of Ages was gone, and the Crest of Hope was within T.K.'s hand once again. Solemnly he placed it around his neck. They were staying... they were all staying, where he knew that they would. He was certain that he should send them all away, but could no longer muster the strength to argue. He was injured, badly, in both body and spirit and was so, so tired. But if his wounded leg could not longer support him, then Pegasusmon would bear his weight to the end. If his back ached with the pain of Shay's crippling injury, Eloan would guard it for him. If his heart ached with a tainted lust, then Shay and Ailora's great love would cleanse it. And if his stomach had been seared by demon-fire, then Gatomon would go before him to harry the demons back to the dark.

The boy bowed his head, and pulled in a breath that was no longer troubled by the smell of sulfur in the air. He was going Home. "All right, then," he said quietly. "The Blessing of the Father on us all. Let's finish this."


	8. When All is Said and Done

It was far below the surface of the earth, almost a mile into the depths when BaalMerodach came to a halt in front of a massive barrier of solid, magmatic rock. Here he could hear the heartbeat of Hell. Here he could open the floor of the mortal world to call his legions forth from the flame. Here he would blot out the blessed light of Hikari, and here he would be magnified as the Second Power of Dark. It would all come to pass as he had foreseen it.

"Master?" demanded a thin, mortal voice from behind the leathery wing which encompassed the human girl at his side.

The beast turned, holding up a many-taloned hand to bring about silence of the pretentious, mewling infant. It would now demand its bounty for bringing him to this place and for delivering the Hikari to him, and BaalMerodach paused for a moment to genuinely consider whether or not he would honor the bargain that he had struck. He had not planned on doing so. For though there were times when he and others of his ilk would deliver on such a promised reward, that others might fall into the same snare, it was not in his nature to give service to mortals.

Now Hikari began to struggle beneath the folds of his wing, scratching and tearing at his immortal flesh in a continued struggle for life. Merodach paused, then unfurled the appendage and threw the human child to the ground callously. Callously, but not so forcefully as to injure her. "Hold her," he commanded of the sisters, passing a single talon over the pair to endow them with the strength to obey his command.

Aine and Moya each felt an uncomfortable chill pass through her body at the demon's gesture, though with it came the unyielding strength of the dead. And as the demon had commanded, both stepped forward and took the Lady Hikari by a wrist. It was in neither of them to disobey any command that the creature gave any longer, for by nature of their bargain it now possessed each of them in both body and spirit.

BaalMerodach paused to take momentary stock of the situation, and in the back of his immortal mind he could hear the rumblings of D'assan's thoughts as well. With all of his foresight and all of his scrying, never had he even considered that he would have to contend with one of the _Exemplar _for his victory... and particularly not with that one. His very presence here confused and almost befuddled the creature.

He had flown to that final peace, to rest and the side of Father and Family. But was here now? Had he himself been betrayed by his underlings, who had confirmed that this Venerable One had passed into the immortal plane and been granted a repose and his reward for a life well lived? Or was is something deeper... something even more insidious and peculiar? A return?

No. No _Exemplar_ could possibly endure the agony that came with the labors laid upon them and then refuse healing and peace when it came upon them. Fully half of the Fallen, his own brethren, had attempted to extinguish their own immortal lives in despair when they had been cast from the presence of the Father. And though marked, they at least had been free from pain. Certainly no. There could be none who would willingly deny themselves a dwelling place that was offered them in the final Haven.

And so betrayal it would have to be.

He is stronger than most, Dearest, D'assan's voice spoke to him from within his own mind. _As I was I could not even wound him in battle. And now... now we have come between him and his Lady. Give them the power that they crave. The scant delay they prove to be to him may buy us the instant that we need to pull her soul from her body._

Merodach scowled, but was forced to agree. Would the _Exemplar _pause before he scourged them to the Fire? If the possibility existed then he would cling to it. The Lady Hikari, still within the grasp of the sisters, was only semiconscious. Her eyes were open and staring vaguely ahead, but the creature had no indication that she was actually seeing anything. So much the better.

"You," the demon scowled at Aine. "Keep your paws upon the human child. And you," he continued, his eyes falling upon Moya. "Release her."

The _a'ladon _sisters did as they were instructed, having very little choice in the matter in any event. And as her delicate paws fell from Hikari's wrist, Moya found her head suddenly engulfed by the demon's many-taloned hand. The creature pulled her forward into his embrace, heedless of her shouts of pain and fear. Merodach turned her about within his leathery wings and tore the dirty dress from her legs, casting it away. Then he bent the young girl over at the waist and wrenched her furry tail to the side.

"You crave _power?" _he hissed into her ear, looming over her struggling form. "Very well, then, child. Receive the Darkness!"

Calling me Home...

Home...

Home.

Now it was T.K. that lay slumped across Pegasusmon's back, his tear-stained face pillowed against the creature's golden mane. It shamed him terribly that he could not walk the rest of the way, but in truth he had no strength left. His eyes fell upon the Crest of Hope that lay just in front of him, and he nodded weakly. "Yes... yes, I am drawing close to you now. But I have to see her one last time with my mortal eyes. Just an instant... a glimpse... and then you may carry me Home."

BaalBerith alone was watching T.K. as he lay there, motionless, and the creature frowned at the words of the boy. "What do you see, _Exemplar_, when you look so far away? Do you see the Distant Land? The Peaceful Halls? Can you see all the way to the Silver Throne? Is it a beacon for you as it has been for us since antiquity? My heart will never be free of longing for it, though I know I can never return. If it were otherwise I would depart in an instant. How can you bear to remain?"

The eyes of the young human remained distant, and when he spoke the demon was not certain whether it was in response to him or just a vague reflection. "Those that have gone before sing for me. Sing me free from this night that I have dwelt in. I am waking... waking from tormented darkness into a bright peace..."

Ailora walked on the other side of Pegasusmon while Shay and Eloan led the way deeper into the depths. The young creature brushed the gentle fingertips of her paw against the pale cheek of her Lord Takeru before she leaned in close to the golden stallion's ear. "He doesn't look well, Pegasusmon, and I think he's getting a fever. Should I ask Eloan to use _Great Peace_ to try to comfort him?"

There was a small fissure in the floor from which a foul-smelling smoke issued, and in deference to his young friend Pegasusmon moved to the side to avoid the worst of it before crossing. And then he nodded back to the girl. "I am sure that the fever is the least of his pain now, Ailora, and he cannot be comforted. He is surrounded by evil on all sides, and it torments him. Old injuries and those that he has borne for others for years have returned to haunt him now, made worse by the nearness of the minions of the Enemy."

The girl looked confused for a moment. "Have you not noticed them?" the creature offered, nodding his head to the side. "Look there. In the smoke... in the walls."

Ailora glanced to where the stallion indicated, into the thick vapors of the cavern and at the black rock surrounding them, and was alarmed to see the amorphous devils of which the other spoke. They appeared visible for only an instant before vanishing into wisps of colorless air or back into the rock, but there seemed to be hundreds upon hundreds of them. The girl swallowed, and inched closer to the other. "Will... will we have to fight them all?"

Pegasusmon shook his head. "Not a one. They are not concerned with us, and dare not try to attack T.K. directly. But they are whispering their hatred in his ears, and taunting him with reminders of old injuries and separation from his ultimate family. Ordinarily he would be strong enough to throw them off, and most likely cast them back into the shadows. But not now. His heart has been too long divided against itself, and is one that is stretched too thin to remain so. His strength has left him."

Now Ailora's fingers returned to the caressing of the young human's face, and she smoothed a few strands of blond hair behind his ear. "So we can't do anything for him?"

The golden creature turned to her with a wise smile upon his face. "We can. When it is his time, we can let him go. Let him go without tears, and without sorrow. He has carried too much, too long, and it will be to peace and healing that he goes. I think I have known, perhaps always, that it must come to this."

The girl's fingertips fell to the pink Crest of Light upon the human's left wrist, and it returned a small glimmer of recognition in response. "And he endures all of these things for her? For Hikari? Is their love so great?"

"Very great, Ailora. Very. More than even I know. He has withstood much for her, and now this at the last. But if we should prove successful here today, do not speak of it to her. Since the beginning he has not told her of the pain, and would not want her to know of it in her final memories of him. You may understand, someday."

Eloan dropped to one knee and raised a single paw to call for a halt. The cavern through which they had been traveling had now divided into two branches, and the rough floor gave little indication as to which path the other group had followed. "How can a creature of that size step so lightly?" the boy grumbled, running a single claw along the volcanic rock of the ground. And after a moment had passed and when Shay also could not make a determination, Eloan took his father's little flute from the pouch at his side and played a light, short series of notes upon it.

The boy stared at something for a moment, something that utterly escaped Shay, before leading the group down the left-hand passage. "This way."

Ailora took in all of this, but did not speak as she followed her brother and her fiance further down the black tunnel. She almost wished that she'd never come... not to see this. To see her Lord Takeru so weak and broken, with his familiar speaking as though death would soon take him. But then, if he were dying, how could he hope to see his Lady safely back from the powers that had taken her? There had to be a distinction here that she was missing.

Now the Crest of Light, against which her paw still rested, gave another vague glimmer of silver. _To death?_ _No, Daughter. It is true that his body may pass, but with it will pass all the weaknesses that are bound within. His fear and his pain, his frailty and his sorrow. What is left will be beautiful to behold, and will certainly suffice to carry her back from the borders of the Dark Lands. But it is this: that he must surrender his mortal life to Light that she does not surrender her own to Darkness, of which the son of Hope speaks._

"I... I don't understand any of this," the girl murmured under her breath. None of it was fair. If Lord Takeru was willing to sacrifice so much and suffer so greatly for the Lady Hikari, should they not be together at the end? If he had fought against evil for so long and tried so hard to make things right, why would he be rewarded with what in the end only amounted to noble death? It just didn't seem right...

Now Gatomon, who had been trailing behind the group, nipped up to Pegasusmon's rump and sat between T.K.'s legs. She turned to the perplexed girl, and smiled. "None of us understand it, Ailora," the little creature whispered. "But Patamon believes that when T.K. is released from his pain for the second time, the final time, peace and healing will be his reward for all that he's done. But then, Pata has always been more concerned with personal honor than with justice." And here the little feline winked at the other, and her voice dropped even lower, to an almost inaudible whisper. "Look in his pocket."

Ailora was hesitant for a moment, and then her fingers stole away from Takeru's forehead and the Crest of Light and moved in the direction that Gatomon had indicated. The girl felt horribly guilty about rifling through the human's possessions without his permission, but an intense curiosity had become aroused in her stomach by the furtive manner and cryptic words of the little feline familiar. And so she inched down to the pocket that the other had indicated, and after another moment of a tentative pause, slid her hand inside the boy's pocket.

The _a'ladon_ girl opened her paw in surprise as it returned to her side, and she looked at the marvelous little ornament that had been secreted away in the clothing of her master. For thought it was plain and unadorned and fashioned from what looked to be silver and not gold, she was certain that it was the most lovely piece of jewelry that she had ever seen in her life. But what it signified in the context of their conversation... "I don't think I understand," she confessed to the other.

Gatomon smiled. "Humans aren't so gifted with words as you _a'ladon _are, Ailora, and are more drawn to ornamentation. When a male human gives a ring to a female, it would be for them as though Shay had finally spoken Takeru's Vows with you."

Ailora blinked, and her cheeks reddened with a flush of embarrassment. "So... he _does _mean to wed her?"

The little digimon winked knowingly at the girl. "I'd be very confused and upset with him if I found out he didn't," she answered, really rather smugly. "And I'd have to forget everything that I thought I'd learned about humans in the last eight years. Of course, he has a task to finish first, and if he fails it cannot come to that between them. But I believe, and believe strongly, that it is his intention to do so."

The girl opened her mouth to respond, but was brought up short by a discomfort as the sound of a low rumbling reached her ears. It was a deep baritone in pitch, and its steadily building volume was such that she was afraid that it might begin to crumble the black walls around them. The girl winced, and brought both paws to her ears. The other _a'ladon _and Gatomon also tried to shield their ears from the pain, and Pegasusmon looked somewhat uncomfortable that he could not do so as well. But T.K. remained as motionless as ever, and BaalBerith only looked up at the sound with a scowl on the face of Jeron the king.

The possessed creature moved to the side of Pegasusmon. "If you truly mean to see this done, beast, now is the time for haste. Those are the groomsmen for Merodach singing the soul of his chosen bride to darkness that she will be fit for him to wed. When they have finished, he will place his token upon her head to symbolize the bond he has made with her flesh and then will drag her soul screaming to the depths of my home."

"Can you silence them?" the stallion returned, brow furrowed against the pain in his ears.

Berith shook his head in disdain for the question. "I would counter them back to Hell if it were in my power to do so. But those are not of my House. Merodach has taken no chances in this. I have no authority over those that will aid him in his grab for power. In any event, the Law of our Master forbids me from acting openly against another of my race that seeks to advance His kingdom."

But Pegasusmon had turned away at the creature's shake of its head, and now craned his own to the rear. "T.K.?" he murmured quietly. And to any other it might have seemed foolish for him to speak in such a soft voice while all around them raged the noise of the demonic choir, but of course the truth was anything but.

The boy stirred once before he lifted his pale face towards his partner. "It is time," the stallion finished.

T.K. wiped the sweat from his forehead and the tears from his eyes and moved forward to sit upright with his hand stroking the other's long neck affectionately. "No palm leaves for me, Pata," he smiled wearily, motioning to the ground in front of them.

The noise surrounding them was still tremendous, and so Pegasusmon was certain that he felt the words instead of hearing them, but both he and Berith understood them where the rest would not. And T.K. was tall upon his partner's back now, with the Crest of Hope beating a golden heartbeat upon his chest and the Crest of Light answering with a silver pulse upon his left wrist.

At that moment Eloan and Shay, at the head of the group, both came to a halt and turned to one another while grimacing strongly. "What is that _smell_?" the red-haired boy very nearly shouted the demand of his aristocratic partner.

And then they saw her.

The female _a'ladon_, twisted beyond belief into a monstrous, misshapen figure, towered in the passageway before the group. Her fur had been recast in a glossy ebony hue, and the tail which lashed around at her flanks had been ameliorated by a serrated barb at the very end. Huge, taloned claws dug into the magmatic rock atop which the beast crouched, and a glistening green saliva oozed liberally from the saber-like fangs which curved downward from her upper jaw.

With the chorusing demons at their backs now, the three _a'ladon _teens each drew their swords and stepped to the front of the formation. The twisted creature peered at each of them with madness in her vacant eyes, until finally she came to the young prince on the right flank. _"Shaaaay," _the beast intoned in a sibilant voice and slowly reached her enormous claw forth towards the boy.

Shay was aghast, and he lowered his sword away from its position at guard as he heard the other speak. "_Moya?_" he demanded, his jaw hanging open in disbelief.

"Shaaaay," the other repeated, and now the monstrous paw reaching for the boy shot forth with a horrifying alacrity as the a'ladon magistrate sought to remove his head from his shoulders.

But then Moya reeled away as a great, silvery light estopped her from any further assault upon the boy. T.K. had his hand held high above his head, and within that hand was the Crest of Light whose power poured out from between his tightly clasped fingers to provide a holy barrier against the demonic creature. And with his heels the young human gently urged Pegasusmon forward and Moya away until her back was pressed up against the rear cavern wall, leaving the corridor clear for them all to continue.

T.K., astride Pegasusmon now looked up at the creature that had been the _a'ladon _witch and met her eye to eye. "Well now," he said, letting the light of the Crest fall upon him so that the creature could not advance but sparing her the pain of having it alight upon her flesh. "You have done service, and service willingly, to the greatest evil ever unleashed upon your lands. What now shall be done with you?"

The enormous creature still cringed away from the young boy and the fiery light in his hand, shielding her eyes with a grotesquely disfigured forearm. "_P... pity..." _the other responded with deep lamentation and shame in her voice. "_Mur... mur... mercy, Lord."_

T.K. felt nauseous and reeled in his seat as the pain from old injuries again swept over him in a wave, but still he kept the light upon Pegasusmon and himself to maintain security against the demon-possessed girl. And he bowed his head in response to her words. "I cannot remedy this, Lady. Not such as I am. But neither can I leave you at my back when I go to send your Master back to the shadows. It may be that I must scourge you to the fire that my purpose may be fulfilled." And the boy reached to his chest, unwillingly it seemed, to take hold of the Crest of Hope.

But then Shay was at Pegasusmon's side, and looked up at the boy Paragon. "Lord Tekay... how would it be with you if I presented you a fourth alternative?" T.K. looked down in response with only sadness upon his face, for he had guessed of what the boy spoke before it had even crossed his lips. "Let me guard the corridor at your back, Lord. I will stay with Moya if she will swear to yield, and will bring her to battle if she will not. For though she was short-tempered and irritable with me, she never was so with an evil intent, and I can not believe that this end was of her own choosing."

"Shay... I can't--"

But Gatomon interrupted the human before he could continue, again leaping to Pegasusmon's flank and placing her gloved hands upon his shoulders. "I'll stay with him, T.K. If it spares you from making a decision that I know you don't want to make, I'll stay to make certain that she cannot follow. In any event, if she does want to cause any trouble for you... I have a score to settle with her from our first meeting." And behind her feline eyes T.K. could see the eyes of Angewoman, and he knew that the pair could indeed do as promised.

"And Kari?" the boy asked of her.

Gatomon smiled fondly in response. "I passed my guardianship of her to you a long time ago, Takeru Takaishi."

"Enough," BaalBerith demanded, careful to stay well away from the light within T.K.'s hand. "We have no time for this. Onward!"

The frown upon T.K.'s face had not diminished, but still he nodded and turned Pegasusmon's head towards the massive opening in the wall to the left. At his side were Ailora and her twin brother, and at his back the demon-possessed king of the _a'ladon_. And as they moved away Shay and Gatomon kept Moya pressed against the wall, though she seemed to be relaxing away from it as the Crest of Light also moved away.

"Our cause cannot succeed if you remain so timid about the spilling of blood, _Exemplar_."

Eloan and Ailora looked up at the boy human for an answer, even as he appeared to sag beneath a great weight. T.K. caught the eyes of each of the twins before shaking his head. "She was mortal enough still to beg for mercy and for pity. Those concepts are unknown to demonkind, and if enough of her soul remains to ask for such then I would be doing a great evil to send her to the fire. Isn't that right, Berith?"

The demon responded to the chastisement with only a dark glower in the other's direction. _Naive, and hopelessly so to survive this, _the creature thought but did not say. How many similarly possessed souls had fallen beneath the blades of the _Exemplar _from ages past he dared not guess, but for certain knew the amount to be staggering. The boy being what he was, Berith was sure that no restriction had been placed on him to sunder such a being from the mortal realm. And if the seed of Merodach was still coursing through her body... well, she would be in no position to plead for her life for much longer. But such were the foolish risks that mercy entailed.

Ailora risked a single glance back over her shoulder to see Shay and Hikari's familiar side-by-side in the doorway through which they had departed, and the beast looming over them. And then she turned back to her Lord Takeru with head bowed. "Is there any hope for him, Lord? Any at all that the creature will indeed yield?"

T.K.'s mouth was dry, so very dry as he answered. He wished that he had something to drink, even a taste of water to moisten his throat and perhaps cool his rapidly worsening fever. "I'm no descrier of anyone's fate, Ailora. But your father gave his life to return hope to all of your lands... so yes. There is always hope."

"Brave words and maxims will only take you so far if you refuse to act, _Exemplar_. Merodach will not surrender his prize but that you battle him for her. And it may be that, with the end of the song of the damned at our back, you shall have to destroy your Hikari in order to guard the souls of those that have come with you as well. If you will not scourge Moya, who you do not love, how much harder will it be for you to rend the life of your promised from her to save us all?"

But with those words from the demon and king, a ghastly scream of despair and of pain and of loss echoed throughout the cavern from ahead, and the song of the cursed groomsmen came to an end.

The light in the cavern, save for that in T.K.'s hand, was instantly extinguished at the call, and the sound of leathery wings beating in furious time surrounded them. Eloan and Ailora both drew their swords at their sides, and a thin line of golden fire was evident upon the boy's, but there was no courage in the act and each felt their mortal blood run cold within their veins.

"Kari."

Berith bowed his head in surrender. It was over. Merodach had claimed his bride. His immortal soul would soon be naught but sustenance for his brother's hunger, and a life that had spanned eons would be quenched within the belly of the Second Power.

Pegasusmon stamped a forehoof in helplessness, but could no longer walk forward. It was not that he did not want to proceed, even though his chances of falling from the path and into the fiery magma at their side would have been great. Instead it was as though his muscles had frozen with the cold and darkness, and would no longer yield to his conscious demands.

But above them all, T.K. could only close his eyes in resolution. No. No it was not over. Not until what was to come to pass had come to pass. Above his head went his open hand, and upon its surface lay the Crest of Light. And the boy's lips were moving silently with words that he should not have known to speak, and yet most certainly did.

Fiat voluntas tua...

Fiat voluntas tua...

Fiat voluntas tua...

And the boy paused, his eyes blinking open into darkness as he finally made his voice heard.

"Thy will be done."

The Crest of Light now shone with a light as it had never shone before, and in a bare instant the black cavern was all aglow with silver fire and brilliance, and even Pegasusmon, Eloan and Ailora closed their eyes and turned their heads away as best they could to be shielded from the great radiance that even outshone the noonday sun in the midst of a summer's day. At the boy's back Berith fell to his knees in agony and buried his face against the black rock at the floor of the place, and yet the light was so powerful that even then it was of no comfort to him.

The demon clawed now at the mortal eyes that he had stolen from Jeron, and shouted out in agony. "No! End it! End it now, _Exemplar_! How can it be that the light from the Silver Throne shines here, even in the pit of all places? Show me not the brilliance of what was my home! End it, or end my life at once!"

"Open your eyes."

Pegasusmon and Ailora and Eloan heard the boy's calm voice above them, and though each feared that he would be struck blind when they had done as T.K. had instructed, love for the human claimed instant superiority over such fear. And when each did look, he found that he was not struck blind but instead had his eyes bathed in a great and gentle glow that set each of their minds at ease and soothed all of their fears and misgivings.

The twin children of T'Kai looked up at the father's friend, and saw him for an instant as they had not seen him before. The mortal shell was still there, yes, but they found if they looked closer that they could see behind the flesh to a presence unlike they had never seen before. It was wise and noble and worth of great honor, with a silver shield above his head and a great, golden sword within his hand.

"You also, BaalBerith. My word as before... this will bring you no harm."

But the demon did not open his eyes, and instead continued to roll about on the ground in agony. "Lies! All lies! I am lost, whether by your hand or by my brother's it matters not! Hikari is his, and so shall be dominion!" And with that the demon rose to his mortal _a'ladon _feet and scampered blindly ahead of the group, stumbling over crags and slamming into walls, but eventually disappearing into the passageway that loomed before them all.

Pegasusmon was the first to speak after a moment. "T.K.?"

"Yes... still. Still, Pegasusmon, though for a short time only. The Spirit is upon me, and only waits for my mortal eyes to see Kari before it will fly free."

"And the pain?"

Now the boy nudged his partner forward with his heels, and motioned for Eloan and Ailora, Hope and Light, to take up positions of honor before Pegasusmon. The twins did so with swords still drawn, and felt more alive and full of pride than either had before in their life. "Also remains, but remains with me only as tattered rags of mortality that I will soon cast off. My body is rent beyond repair, and will soon return to dust."

The procession was moving along now towards a doorway in the far wall beyond which they could hear screaming and shouting and chanting all at once, and Pegasusmon lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'll miss you, T.K., and I love you more than I could possibly say in a lifetime. In the midst of your joy, never forget about me."

The boy's heart ached at the words of his partner, but it was an ache that only joined the others hanging on to his mortal body in those last moments. But worse than all of those was the guilt. _I should never have come back, _he thought as he watched his honor guard of _a'ladon _twins step through the arching gateway that loomed before them all. _What good has it been to any of us? Kari and I still cannot be together in the end, and but for my return the demons might well have left her alone. Pata and Gatomon and Ailora, Eloan and Shay would never have risked their lives in this place. I've borne this pain for four years without reason, and left the Paragons and angels to grieve for my presence._

But now came a song to T.K.'s ears as he rose and fell with Pegasusmon's gentle gait, a peaceful, soothing lullaby that his three companions seemed completely oblivious to. And as the boy looked to his left and again to his right, he saw the ethereal forms of the holy host in their fine livery. The Paragons had come to the side of their still-mortal peer to sing comfort to him as he completed his dignified procession into the lair of the beast. In his hand and upon his chest the Crests of Light and Hope responded to the song with gentle power and acknowledged each of the singers with a faint glimmer in their direction.

" L'Épée... rather, the Sword, she is fond of you Takeru."

The boy smiled down at her. She was somewhat older than he, and of course knew her by sight. Such was the familiarity between them all. _"En français, _if you would prefer, _Jehanne_. I can speak it, you know."

She reached out to touch the boy's hand. "This is going to be difficult for you, Takeru. The leaving was hard on all of us, in both body and in spirit. And you may have to do something that you do not want to do."

Now T.K.'s face fell into shadow. "Did Michael send you to remind me of my duty, then? He doesn't trust me to do it without reassurance?"

"Would you rather one of the others spoke to you of it? We were all sent solace at the end, and this will be no less trying on you than it was on us." The girl paused. "Takeru, if she has been taken... you must release her to death. Do not leave her in the hands of one of _them_. Use the Sword of Ages. It knows of your fear, and will not cause her unnecessary pain."

T.K.'s eyes fell upon the Crest of Hope, and in his mind the boy could see it exalted as the Sword of Ages and his being forced to use it against his most beloved. "I'm scared, m'lady. Not for myself, but for Kari."

She smiled. "You cannot do wrong, Takeru. Be strongest at the end." And then the girl was gone back to the side of the holy chorus with a nod in his direction and at the Crest of Hope, for it knew her as well.

The boy reached down and stroked the neck of Pegasusmon. "No, Pata... I will never forget..."

Merodach smiled as he held the Hikari by the throat and loomed over her. "Now you _are _mine, human. Properly wed, I judge that you are now fit to consummate our bond by bearing my offspring. And after he bursts forth from your womb, each of us shall have his own turn suckling at your essence. My spirit will inhabit our son, and he will be great and fell and fearsome, the likes of which the angels have not seen in millennia. BaalMerodach, prince of Hell and of darkness will I be, and I will stand at the right hand of my Father himself and there be magnified before all the Earth."

Kari was drowsy and could not physically strike out against the creature, but deep within her soul she screamed in panic and despair of what had happened... and the infinitely worse act which was about to occur. She had already seen him violate the _a'ladon _witch Aine in the most horrific way possible, and desperately wanted a way to die before he forced himself upon her.

"You see, Berith? I have won," the beast called over his shoulder. "You... You thought to betray me by leading Takeru here? If so, you ought to have shown more haste." And within his clawed hand the demon held a vicious lash with many long, leathery straps which had been adorned with pebbles and bits of bone to proliferate the damage to its victim's flesh. He had already scourged his Brother once with the weapon, and thought that he might try it on his new bride as a bit of sport before impregnating her.

"_Merodach_!"

The creature paused at the call, still holding Hikari within his arms and his wings folded tightly around her body. This was a development not entirely unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless. He had clung to a measure of hope that Takeru would have flown away to be free of the pain once the blight was upon the soul of his promised.

The creature turned, and dropped his bride to the floor. She could not escape... she could no longer so much as move or breathe without his permission. Such was the nature of demonic matrimony: utter male dominance. And from a sheath at his side Merodach slowly pulled forth the second of three relics which the Master had given him access to... relics from the most heinous event in all of recorded human history. A great, bladed spear which had once split the flesh of the most holy man to have ever walked upon the earth. Because of the uncertainty he had hoped that it would not come to a battle, but still was secure in the knowledge that this human could not defeat him.

"You're younger than I'd thought, _Exemplar_," the creature called to T.K. from his position. "You seemed significantly more mature at our last encounter. Have you even reached the age of majority for your kind?"

"Free her, Merodach," was T.K.'s response as he slipped from Pegasusmon's back. Eloan and Ailora stepped between the young human and the massive form of the demon, emboldened by their faith in him, but T.K. gently touched each of the siblings on the arm to move them back to the digimon's side. "You have no rights to Kari, and I've come to take her back."

BaalMerodach unfolded his enormous, leathery wings and spread them to the side to display the true enormity of his body. And at T.K.'s back, Pegasusmon frowned at the thickly muscled chest of the creature. It was half again T.K.'s height, and probably three times his weight. But he was comforted by the fact that the boy did not cringe from the sight, nor did he manipulate the Crests into the Paragon Arms at that moment.

The demon frowned, and stamped the butt of his spear upon the floor. A great hollow sound echoed throughout the cavern in response, and the creature raised the scourge in his other hand to his shoulder. "Are you not even mindful of the weapons that my Master has girt me with, _Exemplar_? Take her back? My bride? She is the key to my exaltation, and my property by rights."

T.K.'s eyes fell upon the creature's weapons, and his face took on an additional pallor. "I know them, Merodach. They should have been destroyed long ago... but neither does it surprise me that your cause would have secreted them away to some dark corner of your Hell. And I promise you that, if you choose to contest Kari with me, I will shatter both spear and scourge before they meet with my flesh."

Eloan's eyes scanned the room while the two spoke. Hikari, he judged, was obscured behind the wingspan of the demonic creature. Oddly enough he was not so terrified of the monster as he might have thought. Being this near to it made him feel ill, and certainly he was nervous about the power that it could command, but he _was _able to stand before it on his own two feet without his knees knocking together in fright. The boy smiled. His father' spirit was upon him.

But his eyes continued to scan the room. Merodach, yes, and Hikari certainly behind him. Berith cowering in the corner and stripes upon his back oozing dark blood... but yet, had there not been another _a'ladon _girl with Merodach in the earlier cavern? Possibly the creature had already destroyed her, but that conclusion did not sit right with the boy either.

The others in the room, _a'ladon _or demon, digimon or human all were extraneous at the moment as Merodach and T.K. stared one another down in silence. The creature was certain that he could not break _this _human's will as he would have any other's, and was doing all that he could not to collapse under the eyes of the _Exemplar_. And then it was he who ended the silence first. "Very well, then. A bargain."

The Crest of Hope was alight with gold fire in T.K.'s hand. "Be serious," the boy scowled.

"I cannot _lie _to you, _Exemplar_. Not whilst you hold the Sword of Ages, veiled with innocuity though it be. Even at this distance I can feel the fatigue of your mortal body, and the illness that is threatening to drive you to your knees. It is only your spirit that keeps you standing in front of me, boy, and while you remain in that body there remains the possibility it will fail you. When it does, the victory will be mine and all will suffer that you would not yield."

"And so here is my offer, Takeru... Best and Beloved of the Father. Quit this battle before it begins. It was not laid upon you by Heaven, as both you and I know. In return, I will spare the lives of all that you have brought with you to this place. And I will place wards upon you that no demon of Hell should trouble your line from now until the Armageddon. You and yours may finally have peace... something that has been long denied you in the service of the One."

"And though Hikari must die as my bride, I will anesthetize her against the pain that would accompany that death. She will be completely unaware as her body fades from existence and her soul is extinguished. You know that, if we should duel, the winner must put her to death... and a painful one at that. She is my slave now, and even if you are victorious will roam this world in my stead causing great evil wherever she may tread."

The demon glanced over at BaalBerith. "What matters it to you who is my Master's Second, Takeru? There is no victory here for you... even if you battle me and win you will have lost. And if you should fail how many will suffer because of it? Go in peace. Take Eloan and Ailora. Take Pegasusmon and Gatomon and Shay... even Jeron, once I have freed him from Berith's control. Live long in peace for the rest of your mortal life, and know that your children and their children and all of your line forward shall be free from the trouble that you have known. Do not let stubborn, mortal pride forestall you from making what you know to be the honorable choice." The demon paused, reading the look on the boy's face. "But I cannot be trusted? Then I shall swear upon the Sword of Ages as my brother has sworn to put your soul at ease."

Think of the good that you may do while you still live...

T.K. put out a hand and held on to Pegasusmon's side as his knees felt weak and began to quiver. And tears formed in his eyes and began to drip down his cheeks, cheeks that were flushed with fever and whose muscles were too weak to even attempt a reassuring smile at his partner. The demon was not lying... even if he did not know what it had said to be true, the Crest of Light would have let him see through the deception. And the vision of Kari impaled upon the Sword of Ages would not leave his mind.

"Pata... Pata, help me," the boy whispered. "I can't do this. I think he's right, and I can't fight this any longer. I'm so tired... I just want to sleep. I can't let you die, or Eloan or Ailora either. And I can't let Kari suffer, at my hands or at his."

The Crests of Light and Hope were now both taciturn and completely inexpressive as the boy leaned heavily against his partner's side. And then Ailora and Eloan looked back to him, and frowned. "I... I believe that you should do as he says, Lord Takeru," the _a'ladon _boy murmured under his breath. "If Her Grace could be saved by battle then I would give my life to that end, and gladly, but if her fate is already sealed and we are to do more harm than good..."

"Lord?" the girl echoed. "I want... want to go home now. If we have failed to save Hikari then I will accept my life with Shay and never have an instant of regret that I had not done all that I could. Let her go, and go in peace, Lord."

And Pegasusmon shook his great head and let his mane fall down around his shoulders. "I should say the same, if this be true. You know how much I love her, but we cannot allow her to suffer for a battle which will serve no purpose. Gatomon will understand as well, and would not want her partner and friend to be tormented at _his _hands. He has promised peace, for you in life and for her in death. Let her go, Takeru."

The boy sighed, and bowed his head. It was over. He had to --_had to--_ accept what the demon had offered. There was no other honorable choice, and it all came down to Kari's well-being. If she were to die in any event...

He glanced up then, vaguely disturbed. "What did you call me?"

Eloan, Ailora and Pegasusmon all glanced at one another in confusion. "Lord?" the young girl asked.

But now T.K. was backing away from the three in alarm, and as he went he tripped upon some imperfection in the floor and his weak legs gave way beneath him. With his eyes upon the three he scrambled backwards upon the black stone floor until his back was against the wall that they had just passed to enter. There was a frantic look on his face and the sweat on his forehead was now pouring down in rivets upon his cheeks and the back of his neck.

"You... you called me, 'Takeru', Pata. You've never once, in all these years, called me Takeru..."

And now the boy fumbled for the Crest of Light upon his wrist, and as his fingers closed tightly upon it he kept his eyes focused upon his three companions. His breathing was heavy in his lungs as his lips whispered feverishly to the little relic, calling on it to reveal to his eyes what he knew in his heart to be true. "Show me, Father. As it is not hidden from Your eyes, do not let it be hidden from my own."

And to him, Gabriel's Ward showed the truth. Behind each of his companions the shadow of a little Fiend stood, and through the Fiends BaalMerodach had imposed his will upon each of the three. They now advanced on the boy as he lay upon the ground, begging the Crest of Light to come forth to greater power. He was the cause of this. He had let them stand in the presence of a greater demon without the safety that the Crest would provide. And he had brought them all, ultimately, to this place.

But still, the Crest would not loose its power within the cavern. It was being smothered in the place, surrounded by evil... and with only a mortal to command it, could no longer erupt into life as it should. And T.K. _was _still a mortal. One empowered with the spirit of a Paragon, but bound still by his mortal flesh.

BaalMerodach screamed at the boy. "Speak, _Exemplar_! Agree to my terms, and I will release them to you. Let no blood be on your hands! Flee! Flee, and be at peace."

And as T.K. lay there, cowering beneath the threatening stares of those that he could not bring himself to battle, the demon folded his wings upon himself. Satisfied in his victory, the creature no longer felt the need to appear imposing before the child. He had won, and the _Exemplar _would soon bow to his terms.

But behind the demon, T.K. could now see the form of Kari as she lay upon the ground. And as he looked, he saw that her eyes were closed in a semblance of peace. Her face was dirty and smudged with black soot as it lay pillowed upon the hard stone of the floor, and her clothes were torn almost to tatters, but she was as at peace as she could be. She had not been violated by the creature, and her own mortal life still throbbed beneath her chest.

I have to see her one last time with my mortal eyes. Just an instant... a glimpse... and then you may carry me Home.

And now the boy Paragon closed his eyes and lay his head down upon the floor as well. To his chest his held the Crest of Hope, and within the little artifact he could feel the most faint drumbeat as it echoed his own pulse within itself. And the boy smiled. He had seen her. She was well. And he was going Home.


	9. Of Great War and Lasting Peace

Shay and Gatomon stood, shoulder to shoulder, between the horrific form of Moya the _a'ladon _witch and the tunnel through which their friends had just departed. The enormous creature gave a growl deep within her throat as she towered above the two, her barbed tail lashing about her massive black body as though she was debating the merits of attacking both at once.

The eyes of Gatomon as she stared down the creature were just as implacable, and she nodded coldly. "I would enjoy that, I think," she hissedin a dark, throaty manner. "You stole Kari from me through treachery, and I will repay that treachery to you with anguish. As soon as you are ready to begin..."

But then Shay stepped forward between the two, and held up a paw while lowering his sword away from on guard. "Enough, Moya! Stop! I asked for Takeru to spare your life because I did not believe that this was the fate you would have chosen for yourself. Not to be an animal and a slave to that creature. And though you have stolen my father from me and the Lady Hikari from my Lord Takeru, I believe that he will save you from this curse. I have felt his power and know in my heart that he can take it from your body and make you whole again. But you must _not _interfere in what is to happen."

The beast that was Moya lowered her massive head to Shay's level and peered closely at him, a drop of foul-smelling saliva dribbling off of one of the fangs which hung from her upper jaw. And to his credit the boy did not move or appear alarmed as the creature inhaled deeply at his shirt to catch his scent, but only stood stoically with the point of his sword's blade resting upon the ground as she studied him through her primitive senses.

Gatomon snarled, striking the metal claws of her gloves together in a challenge to the other. Moya stopped her examination of the boy prince instantly and turned upon the little feline digimon. "That's right, _magistrate_. I haven't forgotten the last time we met, and I doubt you have either."

Shay looked on in alarm, and moved between the two. "Gatomon, stop! I don't believe that Lord Takeru meant for us to fight with her, else he would have done it himself. Don't let a need for vengeance make you act contrary to his will."

The fur was bristling on Gatomon's back as she glared dangerously at the massive creature, and her claws almost literally itched with the need to bring Moya to battle for the evil that she had brought to Kari. But the prince's words made her stop, if reluctantly. She loved T.K. greatly, but wasn't certain that the human boy, in his desire to have the fighting ended, was seeing clearly in this matter. She dared a quick glance to Shay. "Ailora had said that you've never believed in your people's vision of T.K. How is it that you can trust him in this now, when he is all that stands between your world and an evil that you can't possibly imagine?"

The prince's face softened into a smile, the danger seeming to pass out of his mind. "How can I not, now that I have known him and felt his power? Ailora is blessed because she believed without ever having seen him... I am only somewhat less so because I waited to see. But she was right in the end. There is nothing like my Lord Takeru on this earth, and to fulfill his desire that none should perish without cause I will beg Moya to submit before I commit to destroy her." He looked askew at the other. "Certainly _you _believe in him as well."

After a long moment Gatomon's claws went limp and fell to her side... in all honesty and despite how much she might wish it to happen, Moya did not look as though she were going to attack. In fact, though angry, she looked as if she had been sufficiently chastised by T.K. earlier and by Shay's words just now. "I've known T.K. for a long time, Shay. Since he was a very young child... very young. And I will say to you that he is _not _without shortcomings." Shay looked at her with surprise upon his face until Gatomon continued. "But those shortcomings come out of a desire to see good triumph in all things. Very well. He meant to spare Moya, and I will abide by his will in this until she forces me to disobey."

The boy prince nodded and returned to facing the monstrous _a'ladon _witch. "Peace then, Moya?" he asked hopefully. "You have been shown mercy, and will know a greater mercy yet, but first you must yield and pledge to do no harm."

The creature standing above the two grimaced in pain, and her head lolled to the side. But then her lips pursed before her enormous teeth and she murmured in a deep but gentle voice, "P... Peeeace, Shay. Peeeace."

The boy sighed in relief and eased his sword back into the sheath at his side, now daring to turn his back on the creature to watch the path down which the others had left. And at his side he felt Gatomon turn as well, and could sense the other's anxiousness. "You have known him so long?" the boy asked. After a moment the little digimon nodded once in response. Shay bit his lip. "Will he win?"

Gatomon's face was dark, and it took a long moment for her to answer. "He... will. He will win because he must. But my greatest fear is that the cost of his victory may be more than any of us are willing to pay..."

> > >

The laughter of BaalMerodach was mocking as it rolled throughout the cavern while Ailora, Eloan and Pegasusmon loomed over T.K.'s fallen form, menacing him to surrender. But the human boy paid none of this any heed as he lay upon the ground, his near-vacant eyes staring straight ahead to Kari's motionless form. The searing fever was upon his head, now worse than ever, but it was to pass. His heart was aching... aching with regret and with sorrow and with darkness poured out upon him for too long. And though his spirit wished it, he could not force himself to stand. All of his mortal strength was gone now, and little remained of him but a mass of spent flesh upon the floor.

But then, inexplicably in her condition, Kari blinked. Once, twice and then her eyes focused upon what was left of the boy. And great pity was in her eyes when she saw what had become of him... great pity, but also the resolute love that she would always bear for him. He was lost to her world now, but her loss would be Heaven's gain and a great gift to all humankind. Her lips formed a weary smile in the boy's direction, and she silently mouthed her final words to him. Words that he would understand, even if others might not.

I will never have another...

T.K.'s eyelids slowly closed, and his hands tightened into fists around the Crests of Hope and of Light. She knew... knew what had to happen and still loved him enough to let him go. And so the breath that he had taken and had been unconsciously holding was exhaled in a weak sigh.

"Then it is done."

There was a brief pause of complete and utter silence, as if the entire universe had stopped to listen to his words.And then, witha profusion of silver fireand great brilliance, holy powerappeared at his sideand swept unimpeded throughout the whole of the cavern. Eloan, Ailora and Pegasusmon gasped in a collective voice as they felt the damnable tightness within their lungs disappear to be replaced with a sweet-smelling air of freedom. BaalMerodach stumbled away as two figures shimmered into existence at T.K.'s side, one resplendent in a gown of the most pure white and with a halo of gold atop locks of somehow more golden hair. And the other was arrayed in silver armor with great and ancient symbols etched upon his breast, and the feathered wings of both formed an impressive and wide barrier behind the fallen boy. Now the first of the two smiled down upon the human child, and reached for a massive trump at his side.

As the figure moved, BaalMerodach looked on in terror. _"No!" _he quite literally screamed, forming a ball of black fire within a clawed hand and hurling it at his fair counterparts. But the second figure only raised his hand in response and extinguished the black fire in midair, snuffing it out of existence forever.

Gabriel brought his trump to his lips and blew upon it a great and exultant fanfare, the most soul-stirring sound that any mortal could ever hear... the call of the Paragons to arms. It was loud and joyful and filled with intense glory. Then, in an another instant of much power and triumph, the figure of Takeru Takaishi was on his feet between the two... though what had been the mortal body of the boy still lay motionless upon the dirty cavern floor.

Takeru was arrayed all in magnificent white as Gabriel was resplendent in his gown, and gold fire swirled around him in a tempest as the hallowed air of the Paragon continued to fill the cavern. Above his head Takeru raised the Crest of Hope within his hand, and now Michael's Sword of Ages was forged from it once again. But the true form of the weapon, like Takeru himself, was much more than what had appeared in its mortal existence. The Greatest blade was as long as an adult man is tall, and it was inscribed with the same runes which adorned Michael's armor and was alight with golden fire from Heaven.

Then the Crest of Light began to throb with power within the boy's other hand, and soon it engulfed his forearm with the diamond-hard transparency of Gabriel's Ward. And the shield was magnified as was the Sword, surrounding Takeru's entire body with a white curtain of Light that was both impassible and unbreakable.

BaalMerodach was seething with fury as he pulled himself to his feet and leveled an accusing, trembling finger in Michael's direction. "You... you cannot _do _this! If you fight me now then the Armageddon will be called down upon us all!"

The archangel only smiled in response, and waived a hand, palm first, towards Takeru. Now, in a burst of light, silver armor which greatly resembled the angel's own was about the Paragon's chest and the sigils etched within it glimmered with the same golden radiance as the sword. The boy's face, now cleansed of the soot and cares and pain that had dirtied it was raised towards the sky and had a soft light falling down upon it. He was utterly serene, and seemingly lost in joy and completely oblivious to everything else around him.

Michael and Gabriel both smiled and nodded to one another at Takeru's obvious relief. His mind, now uncluttered by the burden of mortality, was hearing the voice of the Father clearly. The two turned as if to depart, but then Michael hesitated for a moment. "Fight, Merodach?" he stared back over his shoulder. "With _you_? I have only come to gird the proper regalia onto one of the Father's own. Were I to wish you harm, we both know full well that you could not stand for long enough to call it a battle."

Now, as the angels both departed from Takeru, Pegasusmon, Eloan and Ailora all rushed to his side and shouted joyfully. And, seemingly in response, the boy Paragon turned his face away from the sky and lowered his great blade to his side. But as he looked at the others there was no camaraderie, and barely any recognition of them upon his face. And so he only nodded once to the three, then turned to face the demon who stood, now nervously, atop Kari.

"BaalMerodach," the boy spoke, and his voice, though not changed appreciably in tone or pitch, now had a much more stern authority behind it. "You have lain hands upon one who is not yours to take. Free Kari Kamiya, beloved of the Father, and return to Hell with the traitor who has followed you here."

Pegasusmon laid his head upon Takeru's left shoulder in a gesture of familiarity and friendship, but again the boy only spared him a brief glance and no acknowledgement before focusing once more upon his enemy. Eloan and Ailora looked puzzled, but still had their swords drawn in anticipation of joining their lord Takeru in battle.

BaalBerith, the stripes upon his back still oozing blood, continued to shield his eyes from the exalted Paragon and slunk away from the conflict about to occur. BaalMerodoch watched the other depart, and then inhaled to expand his chest to its largest size and held one of his weapons in each hand... weapons which were literally aglow with dark power. And his lips trembled an uncertain smile at the boy. "Very well... exalted you have been, Takeru, but Michael and Gabriel have not stayed with you to guide your hand. You have little enough experience wielding the Sword of Ages, and are still not a match for me."

"Leave now, Takeru. I know your mind. Your love for this girl's mortal shellno longer exists as it did before... you cannot possibly identify with her. To what end would you keep her alive? To reclaim that little ember of yours that she still holds?"

The once-human boy, now free of mortal concern and of any emotional attachment whatsoever, was stoic before the creature. "And meanwhile loose you to conceive yet more mischief, demon? I would then be guilty of the greatest dereliction of duty possible." And with that he brought the massive sword down to a position on guard. "Yield, BaalMerodach. Else I will make an end of you now."

The demon was breathing heavily, seething at the boy with a fury and pride in his eyes that no mortal could ever know. He would not, would _not _bow before this mortal _thing _born from the flesh of another mortal thing. "You may... you may indeed _Takeru_. But will you also make an end of _her?_" He stepped back over Kari's limp form to place the human girl strategically between the two of them, and pulled her to her feet by her hair. Then he leaned to whisper into her ear, and from beneath his wing pulled the third dark relic that he had been girt with.

Takeru remained impassive, but his allies pulled back in horror as Merodach set the twisted crown of thorns upon the human girl's head and drove it down into her flesh. And Kari, though her soul screamed despair and pain inside of her, could make no sound that was not at her master's behest. "Now, human whore... my chattel and bride," the creature murmured into her ear. "Descend yet again and defend your most beloved."

Kari's face paled at the command as blood streamed down her face from the ring of thorns upon her head, and looked as though she were going to vomit. She gagged once, then twice, and then a pair of thick horns burst from her forehead just below the object of her torment. The girl was trembling visibly as she fell to her knees, and she looked down in horror as her palsied hands slowly curved and twisted into long, feral claws... claws much too long for the arms to which they were attached.

Pegasusmon was horrified, and, seeing that T.K. was not moving to stop the horror which was taking hold of Kari, bounded to the girl's side in a single leap. But then she, unwittingly it seemed, swatted the armored stallion away with a single, backhanded slap of her massive hand and sent the creature tumbling away to the side. Pegasusmon groaned loudly from his position upon the ground and made as if to stand, but then the shock of the blow came upon him and he lost his already tenuous hold on consciousness.

Kari, more beast now than human, swelled into a monstrous enormity before Takeru, Eloan and Ailora. And then the _a'ladon _twins glanced at one another and nodded a single time, splitting apart and moving to flank the creature. Upon the blade of the boy's sword the light of gold fire remained, and he was trembling with fear to think that he must use it to cleave the life from such a holy name as the Lady Hikari.

There was a single look of human desperation in Kari's eyes as she looked down upon the twins, as if begging them to end this before it was completed... but even that was not to be. For at that moment, another figure stepped from the shadows behind BaalMerodach and loomed over him, menacing the pair with a pair of curved fangs jutting down from her upper jaw. At first the siblings were concerned that Shay and Gatomon had failed in their charge, until...

"Aine," Merodach murmured in a dark voice, not even turning to look at his slave. "Takeru and Hikari desire privacy. Take these mewling little children away so that they will not be disturbed in their reunion."

Unlike her similarly afflicted sister, there was no hesitation from Aine. At the words of the demon the enormous creature bounded over the head of her master towards the pair, swatting Eloan to the side as her great prehensile tail encircled Ailora. With an agility astounding for a monster of her size, the transfigured witch gathered herself and leapt halfway across the cavern and towards Eloan, leaving BaalMerodach and Kari alone before Takeru.

Kari's girth was massive now as the misshapen human girl loomed over Takeru, green foam dribbling from her lips as she stalked him. And the boy, for his part, regarded the other with a aristocratic look of pity upon his face, but again there was no true human emotion to accompany it. He appeared quite indifferent and detached as he gripped the Sword of Ages tightly within two hands, Gabriel's Ward tight upon his left forearm and between the beast and his body.

Kari pounced forward without warning, and BaalMerodach roared with fiendish delight as the two human children entered into battle with one another.

Takeru and Kari each circled around the other slowly, the boy Paragon oft with his great sword raised above his head as if to strike. Once he made as if to thrust the blade home into the girl's heart, ending the battle with a single blow, only to turn it aside at the last moment as if in a feint and return to a position on guard. Kari pawed at the boy twice as if to test his defenses, and twice Takeru punched her long claw away with Gabriel's Ward.

Takeru could hear the rightness of it all in his head as the Sword of Ages and the host of Paragons called for the blood of the demonic creature to be spilt, but still he hesitated. He did not know why he could not cleave the life of the beast from its chest, and thereafter move on to its master, save to say such a thing seemed innately wrong to him...even as he knew it to be right.

From the far side of the cavern where his own battle had taken him, Eloan dared a glance back to where the Lord Takeru entered into battle with his Lady. The tragedy of it all was so very great that the highly sensitive boy might well have shed a tear for his human counterpart if his own situation were not so perilous. As it was the glance was all that he could spare, as the long claws of the _a'ladon _witch Aine now thrust forth to splinter the stone wall at his side.

"Ailora!" the young warrior shouted to his sister, who stood on the far side of their mutual adversary. The girl, however, could only respond with a wordless shout of acknowledgement as she fended off repeated blows from the hooked metal barb upon Aine's tail.

The eyes of the beast were feral now, savage, as if she had been reduced to a lesser degree of intellect when she had been gifted with the traits of a beast. And so, as he caught its claws upon his father's sword and turned them aside, he called again to his sister.

"Ailora, Ailora! Hoem ailora kine s'ores!"

With that the boy ducked beneath the claws of the beast and darted between its rear legs towards his sister, slashing at one of them for good measure. He was forced to scamper quickly as the tail which had been menacing the girl now stabbed at him as he ran, and he hoped fervently that his sister has heard his call... and that Aine had not understood it as well.

The _a'ladon _witch snarled at the child's escape, and while she had heard his call, her now primitive mind gave no thought to what he had said. But as she turned upon both of the twin children, she heard the girl's answer to the boy's shout as if in countersign, and just as her eyes fell upon the two the shouted call of _"A'hoem Ailora!" _reached her ears.

A dazzling burst of white light exploded in front of Aine's eyes, blinding and stunning her for a moment as both Eloan and Ailora covered their eyes with their paws. With a howl the creature staggered backwards, and now Eloan leapt at her in his own attempt at offense. "Grand Cross!" he shouted, cutting two traversing lines in the air between the two.

A great, golden light was spun from the air into form of the cross, and as that light slammed into Aine's body she stumbled backwards and to the ground, an enormous paw holding her chest where she had been struck. The massive creature moaned, and then made as if to stand once, then twice... only to find that she could not. Her blinded eyes stared sightlessly towards the twin _a'ladon _children, and she snarled in their direction as the sickening smell of singed hair permeated the cavern. And then finally, angrily and fuming at her defeat, the massive head of the beast came to rest upon the floor of the stone cavern and there ceased to move.

"You cannot bring yourself to do it, Takeru!" BaalMerodach cried out in glee from the far side of the cavern. "Though she is fallen into my hands you cannot bring yourself to release her to death. You cannot... you _cannot, _and I have won!"

The shouted call and the hateful words stirred Pegasusmon back to consciousness, and from his position upon the ground he saw the last act unfold... unfolding as he knew that it would. And he watched T.K., even blessed as he now was, lower his eyes in a very human fashion. The immense Sword of Ages was alight with gold fire in his right hand and Gabriel's Ward was a barrier of silver upon his left. As Pegasusmon watched helplessly, he heard the words that he had not understood before pass the lips of his partner.

"Forgive me. For all that I do and all that I have done... forgive."

And then the stallion knew, having heard the tone of finality in the boy's voice. A tone of surrender, one that said that desire had finally collapsed beneath the overbearing weight of necessity. And he knew what the boy's choice had been...

The look upon the face of Takeru Takaishi was almost peaceful in its acquiescence as he drew the unwieldy Sword of Ages away from his body, and with a shout he hurled it like a spear of fire towards his Lady Hikari. And at that very moment, the demonic form of the girl thrust the cruel barb upon her tail towards his unprotected chest... a chest that had been left unguarded as the boy followed through with his throw.

The monstrous weapon carved easily through the armor guarding the boy's chest, shearing through metal, flesh and bone only to reappear at his back as a bloody token of her victory. But even as T.K.'s blue eyes went vacant and his hands fell limp at his side, Michael's holy Sword of Ages struck the fierce crown of black thorns upon the girl's head with a white-hot fury and shattered it into dust. But then the great blade, stripped of its power by T.K.'s death, reverted to the form of the Crest of Hope and clattered uselessly to the ground at Kari's back.

There was utter silence in the room as the demonic infection was leeched from Kari's flesh by the destruction of the artifact of evil. The girl slowly reverted to her human form, the wicked claws tapering in size until they were again human hands... the rounded horns dwindling back into her skull... the jagged fangs vanishing into her mouth. And as her demonic tail vanished so did the heavenly form of the Paragon Takeru Takaishi that had been impaled upon it, until the Crest of Light tumbling to the ground was the only indication that he had ever been there.

_"No!" _Eloan screamed from across the cavern, and now bounded heedlessly to where T.K.'s earthly body lay upon the ground. The _a'ladon_ boy dropped his weapon as he arrived and fell against the human's flesh, pulling it tightly against his chest and holding the other's pale face in the crook of his neck.

Ailora felt her legs go weak and give way beneath her, though she felt no pain as her knees struck the stony floor of the cavern. Her mouth sagged open and her eyes were unblinking as she watched the Lady Hikari lie motionless upon the floor while mere steps away her own brother cradled the dead form of the Lord Takeru in his arms. He was gone... he, the one she had idolized, had worshipped since birth, dead at the hands of the very Lady that he had come to redeem from Darkness.

And with him, likely their only chance of leaving this place alive.

The ghastly smile upon the lips of BaalMerodach was so wide that an entire row of jagged teeth could be seen behind it, and the creature was immensely pleased with himself as he strolled towards Kari. Oh, how he would be magnified for this. Soon he would sow his essence within the human innocence of the Lady Hikari, and thereafter would reap a greater vessel for his immortal soul from her mortal womb. And in that body he would stand before his own Master, and there would know such rewards as had not been gifted to his kind in millennia. The Children of the Father would be like stalks of wheat before his scythe, and he would yield to none but Michael Himself.

Now there came a shout of pain and of mortal rage at his back, but the creature was unmoved and simply raised two digits of his clawed hand to capture the _a'ladon _girl in midair and keep her suspended there. And the boy creature, the girl's twin brother, made no move to even look in his direction. Instead he continued to embrace the mortal shell of the human Paragon, rocking back and forth as if in comfort to the fallen.

But now there came another to stand atop the human Hikari, and BaalMerodach frowned. The four-legged beast who had presented himself as mount and friend to the Lord Takeru. There was a deep rumbling within the chest of the demon as he spoke. "Away with you, Servant of the Most High. Your Master has already had his life extinguished at my will. Shall I do away with you as well to claim my prize?" And with that the demon again pulled from beneath his leathery wing a long spear that quite literally absorbed the light surrounding him.

Pegasusmon's heart was ash within his chest at seeing Kari deliver the death blow to T.K., but he remained intent upon giving his own life to buy the girl a single, precious moment of freedom. Oh that she could use it wisely...

The stallion frowned at the weapon in the other's clawed hand, and through his misery spoke to it. "Do you think, demon, that I do not know the secret of the foul weapons that you bear? Long have I sat in study with my fallen friend, and as he did not fear them neither shall I. Or is it you that do not know their secret? Have you been betrayed so cruelly that your Master did not share their mystery and heritage with you?"

Pegasusmon felt Kari stir beneath his body, and again prayed to T.K.'s God that she would use the scant minutes of life that he was buying for her with his own wisely. The demon appeared legitimately confused, but its curiosity with this puzzle would not last... regardless of how it was resolved. T.K. had been certain, after much study and prayer, that the fact upon which his partner now staked his life was the truth. It seemed that his conclusion would soon be put to the test.

BaalMerodach's face suddenly contorted in anger, and he drew back the spear within his clawed hand. "I do not know what insanity has taken you, beast, nor do I care. Suffice to say that you stand between me and my property, and for that you will suffer!" And with those words the demon thrust forth with the dark weapon, the spear of infamy and legend, and watched as it punched between the ribs of the golden digimon.

At the demon's back Ailora, still suspended in midair by the other's dark power, cried out in hopelessness as Pegasusmon's body was pierced by the dark weapon. She had prayed that somehow... somehow...

But the stallion was not moved by the angry force of the weapon, and instead remained standing protectively over Kari. BaalMerodach's eyes widened and his face twisted into confusion as he pulled the spear forth from the creature's body, and then stabbed forward with it once again. And again, he watched as the cruel metal disappeared into the creature's side and reappeared on the other, but with no trace of blood upon the iron head. "This... this _cannot be_!" he roared, and Ailora winced at the volume of the shout.

Pegasusmon bowed his head. T.K., blessed as he had been, has also been right in the end. And so the creature looked up at the demon, as now only a miracle could save him from its fury once he had spoken the words that his fallen partner had given him so long ago. "Why," he spoke slowly, staring down the other, "for the cause of evil or for any other cause, would a weapon be crafted that is insubstantial and harmless except to those who freely accept its hurts?"

After a moment the eyes of the demon slowly widened into comprehension and he staggered backwards, releasing his grip on the spear and allowing it to clatter to the floor. And as he moved away on cloven hooves and reached for the scourge still dangling at his side, the eyes of Pegasusmon narrowed upon him. "That one as well, demon. The Christ of the humans had a reason to accept their torments. I do not. It shall not rend my flesh as it did His."

Now Ailora fell to the ground, released from the demon's power as Merodach's attention was drawn to the truth of the other's words. And now she rushed again at the creature, but another was faster.

BaalBerith was upon his comrade in an instant, leaping upon his back and reaching around to dig his claws into the eyes of his superior. Both demons roared as one entity, Merodach in pain and Berith in fury as the younger of the two opened an enormous maw of jagged teeth and sunk them into the other's neck. The two staggered around the dark cavern, and the long shadows that they cast upon the walls were no less hideous as their physical bodies. Striking at one another with blows of immense power and attacking repeatedly with tooth and nail, each of their screams was tormenting to the ears of the mortals in the cavern, and Ailora seemed frozen in horrid fascination.

But then Pegasusmon was at her side. "Come now, Ailora. Come... it is time to go."

The girl turned, then looked past the stallion to where the Lady Hikari stood over Eloan and the body of the Lord Takeru. The _a'ladon _girl wondered for a moment if the human Lady knew what had transpired, knew if she had been the one that had struck the life from her Lord... this she wondered until she saw the human's face.

Kari's skin was pale... more, perhaps, than any human's had ever been on this side of death, and her lips were quivering and tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks. Ailora then saw that her brother, even as he held the boy human in his arms, was speaking to the girl... and she knew what he was telling her. It seemed mightily unfair to the young _a'ladon _that the other was being burdened with such cruel knowledge now, at this most heinous of times, but the decision had not been hers to make... for which she was exceedingly grateful.

Pegasusmon gave her a nudge to get the young girl moving. "Now, Ailora," he insisted, his deep voice snapping her from her reverie. "One of those will triumph before long, and we must be gone before then."

The _a'ladon _blinked once, and then nipped quickly over to join the others at the cavern entrance. Her twin brother was already on his feet when she and Pegasusmon arrived, and he looked at the two together. "She won't leave without him," the boy said, nodding once to Kari and to the body of T.K. upon the floor.

Pegasusmon bowed his head, moving to Kari's side and placing his head upon her shoulder in a comforting gesture... just as he had always done with T.K. The feeling of the girl beneath his cheek where the boy had always stood tore at his heart just now, but for the moment he had to remain strong. He could collapse upon the ground and let tears of sorrow fall as they would later, in the darkness, but T.K. had given his life for Kari's sake. He would damn himself before he would let that sacrifice be in vain.

The Crest of Light was around Kari's neck, and the Crest of Hope in her hand as she turned silently to Pegasusmon. Her face was wet with tears and her skin ashen as she stared blankly at the stallion. "I... I killed him, Pata?"

The other's horse's lips quivered, and he only kept from stammering as he answered through sheer force of will. "No one killed him, Kari. He gave up his life on his own, willingly, knowingly and without hesitation that you would not remain subject to Hell's mercies." He paused for just an instant and looked to the human girl. "If you must know then I will speak of it later, but for now we will go. I will carry you from this place just as he had wished."

The words of the creature did nothing to placate or move Kari, and she remained standing over the boy's body in silence and in shock. The Crest of Light was tapping out a weak rhythm against her chest, but she took no notice of it. Her ears with ringing with a haunting sound, the cry of her own conscious that this was all her fault. The demon had wanted her, not T.K. If she had stayed where she had been supposed to stay, he would have entered this battle with the upper hand. And at the last it was she... she herself who had laid the death blow upon him. Him, the one she had loved best in this world or any other... dead at her own hands. Her head was bowed beneath the weight of what she had done, and her lips began to move with nearly silent words.

Pegasusmon's ear twitched at the faint sound. "Kari?"

"Take him, Pata... Leave me, and take him home."

The girl collapsed to her knees at T.K.'s side, and gently began trying to rub the dark smudges away from his beautiful, ashen features. The hair that he had never seemed to be able to keep out of his eyes was there again, and with her other hand Kari smoothed it back. Then she fell across his body, holding him tightly against her chest and kissing him tenderly upon his lips while her tears continued to fall upon his face.

Pegasusmon nudged Eloan with his head. "I cannot carry both of them. I barely have strength enough for one. You must get her on my back quickly... use force or even your father's magic if you must, but do it with all haste!"

But then there came a shouted roar from across the cavern, and BaalMerodach tore his brother's head from his shoulders and held it dangling in a single, clawed hand. "Enough of this!" he screamed in anger and insanity, tossing the severed head to the side and stalking towards the little group on cloven ebony hooves.

With two clawed fingers of his hand the dark-skinned fiend pointed out Ailora, Eloan and Pegasusmon in order, and each of them were stricken into immobility as their muscles stiffened where they stood. Then the creature held up the palm of the same hand, and the three were thrown back against the black wall of the cavern and there held by some invisible force.

BaalMerodach reached Kari's side and slowly circled the girl, tracing a claw across the back of shoulders that had been left bare when her clothing had torn. Now she was left wearing little more than tatters, though in her state of evident malaise she seemed not to notice. Her eyes were downcast upon the floor and upon T.K.'s body as the creature continued to stalk her, murmuring at her with words that struck like weapons directly into her wounded soul.

"So now he is gone, my wife. You have done my will, which is your duty, and have presented this body to me as a matrimonial gift... a gift which I gladly accept. You have spilt innocent blood for my sake, blood of a Paragon, no less, and that will further deepen our bond. Now for your last task. You will remove that dangling bit of human attire, and you will turn and present yourself to me, and then you will bear my offspring. And then you will release your mortal soul that we may feed upon it. Now that you have accomplished this much in the service of evil, it is only one more step that you must take for your journey to be complete."

Pegasusmon strained mightily against the force that held his head to the wall, pushing so hard against it that the veins stood out in his equine neck. At his side, Eloan was trying to wiggle his fingers to the sword belted at his waist, and beside him Ailora was kicking against the unseen hand of iron which held her there. But all of their efforts were in vain. The power that they were pushing against was of a supernatural nature, and could not be overcome by simple, mortal strength.

Kari swallowed deeply, in despair and resolution and with the barest of palsies upon her lips. Fine... fine, well and good. Just let it be quick. She had already committed the worst, the most horrific crime she could have ever imagined. Now this would be such a fitting punishment for what she had done. And so, as the demon had bidden, the girl bowed her head and started to turn her back upon the creature. And as she did, her eyes fell upon the motionless form of T.K. as he lay upon the floor. And hope fled.

Kari's heart began to bleed once again.

And as BaalMerodach positioned himself for his final victory at Kari's back, the Crest of Hope within the girl's hand began to throb with life. Slowly and more muted for a moment, but with a steadily increasing and evident power. Kari's head was still bowed but her eyes turned towards her now quivering hand with a question in them that could not be answered. And then the girl's eyes widened in astonishment, and were engulfed in a blue halo of fire and power as she heard in her head a voice that she could not be hearing...

Kari... dearest Kari... from the moment I poured my life into your body to keep you from Piedmon's despair, I have been for you. I am still for you. We are forever bound as one...

With that, the fire of the Crest of Hope in Kari's hand flared into an intensity that had been unmatched in all of the relic's history. Since its forging in ages past until the time it was presented to Michael the Archangel and beyond, never had the force of the holiest weapon been unleashed as it was now. The Sword of Ages was now spun from the Crest in the raging, divine inferno, and with little control over her own arm, Kari found the massive blade of the weapon being raised above her head, and she wheeled to face the demon at her back.

BaalMerodach eyes were wide with incomprehensive horror, and he raised a trembling, black-fleshed claw in front of his face and cowered back before the girl. "N... No!" he stammered, trying desperately to recall an incantation or charm or some sort of magical device that would turn away the suddenly self-assured girl and the look of anger and defiance in her brown, very human eyes. Finding none, he only ducked and cringed beneath his own leathery wing. "I know him to be dead! You are mine! _You are mine!"_

The great blade was held above Kari's head with strength that was not her own. "No. I am T.K.'s. And I am His."

And without any conscious effort at all from the girl the golden blade fell upon the demon's body, shattering its physical form in an explosion of great and holy power and blasting its soul back to the nothingness from which it had come. A tremor borne of the detonation rocked the cavern, and small black pebbles from the ceiling of that cavern started to rain down upon the survivors. Then a cloud of black ash swirled away from the spot in which the beast had cringed, and a fierce wind quite suddenly appeared to push the demon's foul remains away from the young human.

Pegasusmon, Eloan and Ailora were released from their immaterial bonds, and as one fell to the floor as Kari dropped the Sword of Ages. It was suddenly much too heavy for her, and when the great blade struck the ground it reversed its exaltation and transfiguration once again. The Crest of Hope lay now upon the floor, and gave an almost self-satisfied twinkle at the human girl and her companions.

There was a noise at the entrance to the cavern, and Ailora and Eloan turned to look as Pegasusmon made his way to Kari's side. There, in the towering mouth of the cave, stood the enormous form of Moya the _a'ladon _magistrate with Shay and Gatomon flanking her. The monstrous creature took a single sniff of the air, and then made her way to the side of her sister's body. Ailora rushed into Shay's arms, while Gatomon stared silently for a moment at Eloan.

The look of grief on the young creature's face was too much for the little feline to suffer in silence, however. "Kari?" she asked.

Eloan responded with a single nod.

Gatomon swallowed deeply. "T.K.?"

The boy bowed his head, unable to meet the other's eyes without tears filling his own.

"Is it over, then?"

Eloan felt as though he were going to be sick. He placed one paw upon the hilt of the sword at his side and wiped at his eyes with the other. And his response to the smaller creature was whispered in anguish. "It has to be, I think. Mother has always said that the defeat of true evil requires a sacrifice on behalf of the noble. I can't begin to imagine, then, how great a defeat they have suffered today."

> > >

It was late that night and the survivors of the battle had brought T.K.'s body with them down the side of the mountain and into the forested grove that Pegasusmon and Ailora had spoken in previously. Moya was with them and apparently had been tamed by Shay's forceful persuasion, but the bodies of Aine, Kueren and the King Jeron had been left behind. The boy prince had, though, taken his father's crown and signet ring with him after whispering a brief prayer over the man's body. "I don't think I'll ever really know if he was alive when the demon took him over," the boy was saying to Ailora, "but I guess I'd like to think he wasn't. Better to have him dead by Lord Takeru than as a pawn between demons."

The girl looked over to him with a curious expression upon her face. "Didn't you have something you were supposed to be saying to me?"

Shay opened his mouth in surprise and then as if to speak, but paused. "Later. My feelings for you haven't changed, but they can wait for me to speak of them until we get back to your mother." Ailora looked ready to protest, but the boy placed a clawed finger against her lips and nodded to where Kari sat... alone. "Not now," he finished with a shake of his head.

Gatomon and Patamon moved quietly and in step to Kari's side. And as the fire flickered at their respective backs, casting long shadows into the night, the little feline spoke to the girl. "They won't ever bother you again, you know. In the end, we won."

There was a very long moment of silence, broken only by the breeze wafting through the trees surrounding them before Kari answered. "I know," she said under her breath.

Patamon landed on the ground and there started scuffing his little feet in the dirt. He glanced once to Gatomon, who nodded back in reassurance. "K... Kari?" he piped up in his little voice. "This might not be the right time to say this... I'm not sure that there's any right time to say this... but... well, Gatomon and I aren't going back with you. We're staying here."

Kari didn't turn, but all present were sure that they saw the girl's shoulders slump just a little bit more. Patamon felt singularly uncomfortable, and cleared his little throat. "We know that you won't have any more battles to fight or any more monsters to be protected from. But Eloan is leaving across the ocean soon to find out what happened to all the missing adults. Shay thinks that the kidnappings probably had something to do with the slave trade, and we're going to help him try to stop it. It's the best way that we can think of to honor... "

Kari turned towards the fire with an almost painful slowness as the little creature stopped short of speaking _his _name, and tried to smile at him through her red and tear-stained eyes. She had not been able to stem a tide of bitter tears since they had placed T.K.'s body upon Moya's back. "That... that's very noble of both of you," the girl answered, trying desperately to keep the despondency from her voice. "They'll need you more than I do now, I guess. But it will leave me alone to tell his family..." She paused, and sniffled slowly. "I can't even imagine how much they will despise me for this."

Gatomon sent Pata away with her eyes and then dropped to all fours to move to Kari's side. "They won't blame you, Kari. I don't. Patamon doesn't. Nobody who knew him can possibly think that he would have wanted it any other way. It was your life, or it was his. And maybe no one will ever be able to say if it was right or wrong for him tomake the choice that he did, but we all know that was how he wanted it."

Now there came a rustling in the undergrowth some distance away from the little encampment, and Eloan turned his head in that direction. He alone had been keeping vigil over Lord Takeru's body, wrapped as it was in cloth and affixed rather awkwardly to a broad board, and he alone caught the sound of something moving out in the wilderness. The fingers of one paw went to the sword at his side, but after a moment the boy's grip fell from the weapon. No. No, nothing evil would bother them. Takeru's sacrifice had been so great and so total that, as long as his body remained with them, they would be safe. He believed that, and believed it so fervently that he did not even rise to meet whatever might come.

It was not one, but seven who came, and Eloan's eyes were drawn only to the one in the lead. He was an _a'ladon _who seemed of middle age, and was frocked with a priest's cowl and the regalia of a Reverend Father. At any other time Eloan would have risen in greeting and then have fallen to a knee in respect, but at this moment even the other's station was owed less honor than Takeru's body was. He would not break his vigil.

The Reverend Father caught the eyes of the young _a'ladon_, and there was a look in their blue depths that said that his choice was both understandable and honorable. Then the creature looked at the body of the boy Takeru, and his stature seemed to shrink just a little bit. Not a great deal, but the look in the eyes was suddenly just a little bit less alive, the posture just a little less perfect, the fur just a little more gray and a little less brown.

"Great and terrible... perhaps not crippling, but very great indeed," the creature said to Eloan, who looked back with a measure of dwindling of his own and a question in his eyes. "You had wondered how great a loss the other side had suffered today."

The boy nodded absently, and turned back to T.K. "Have we met then, Reverend?"

"Not met, I think. You may have caught a glimpse of me... in fact, I am certain of it, but you would not recognize me now. I knew your father, Eloan. You favor him greatly, and inthe fewdays since Takeru had come, have matured to become his proper heir."

The man walked around T.K.'s body, and placed a gentle paw upon the boy's head as he made his way to Kari's side. The others that had come with him did not go to join him, and instead hung behind in the trees. And Eloan,mature though he may have been,still did not care.

Kari was the only one who did not watch the Reverend creature as he passed through their camp, but no one made a move to stop him. There was nothing threatening in either his form or his actions, and all were much too weak with exhaustion and sorrow in any event.

There was silence for a moment then, with Kari sitting on a fallen log and looking out into the trees and the newcomer at her back. And then, sensing perhaps that he would not go away until she spoke, she swallowed the lump that had been lingering in her throat. "I know you now."

"At whom are you so bitter, dearest?"

Kari swayed unsteadily in her seat. She didn't want to speak the answer to the question that he'd asked. She only wanted to stew in it. To let anger and fury and hatred build up in her chest until it became some kind of fuel that her soul could use to ignite something other than the horribly dead feeling that was overwhelming her. But she also knew that he would not leave without an answer. "Everyone. Everything. You. Me. Them," she nodded at her back. "Everyone... everyone but my sweet T.K., Gabriel."

"_Cheyne_, daughter," the creature corrected gently. "Lest you confuse the others."

Now the girl turned, her tangled brown hair looking wild atop her head. And then she pulled the Crest of Light from around her neck, snapping the chain to pieces in the process, and threw it at the creature's feet bitterly. "There. That's yours. In the end it couldn't save T.K."

The Reverend _a'ladon _glanced down at the relic at his feet, and it winked back at him with recognition and merriment. It, by its very nature, saw the best in all things and could not share in the sorrowful emotions of the moment... Cheyne at that moment longed for the same blessing. He had seen many of the Father's chosen pass in this same manner, but it was never any easier... and this blow had been particularly harsh for him.

Nevertheless, he slid a paw onto Kari's shoulder and held it there for a moment. "Have you learned, Daughter, the aspects of my Ward?"

The girl sighed. Why wouldn't he just go away, that she could decide what to do from here? The past was the past, and could not be improved upon. "Pata said that T.K. used it as a shield, to try to protect himself from m..."

Cheyne's brow furrowed as the girl trailed off, not wanting to make her relive that particular moment in her life. "And what else?"

"He used it to save my life, Reverend Father," came a soft male voice calling at his back, and together Shay and Ailora moved quietly to his side. "I could feel my soul slipping away from my body until, at the very last, I felt him there inside of me and pulling me from death and back into life. I've never... never felt as strong as I did in that instant when he was there with me."

Cheyne turned to the two as if just now recognizing that he and Kari were not alone, and smiled at them. And then he took the paws of both Shay and Ailora and placed them within one another. "And you were there to help Takeru with that, were you not, child? He would have mentioned love?" he asked of the girl.

She frowned in response, and concentrated for a moment before answering in a voice that very nearly faltered. "Yes... he did. He spoke... spokeof a bridge, and said that I could be one for Shay because of how much I..." And then she stopped, blushing quite deeply.

Cheyne's smile had not diminished, and he turned back to Kari. "Between two who love deeply, the Ward creates a bond between souls that one can share the strength of the other in times of desperation. You have felt that same bond, Daughter. He presented his mortal soul to you as a crutch to lean upon that you, as a child, would not fail all those years ago. To this day you retain what he has given you."

Kari's shoulders were shaking now with silent tears, and she still refused to turn and look at him. "So what you're saying is that... is that I took everything from him before I killed him?" she demanded. "Go away... please. None of this matters anymore. He's dead, and I know for certain that none of us can bring him back."

But the Reverend creature was so clearly trying to get Kari to understand something that Gatomon came to stand beside her now. And she called out to Patamon at the girl's back. "Pata, tell us everything that happened. Don't leave anything out."

The little mammal looked upset at the other's demand to relive those most horrific moments, but then did as she asked. Slowly and clearly and with a monotone voice did he recount the battle against BaalMerodach, certain events cleared up by Ailora when he had been unconscious or otherwise unable to provide a clear description. And when finally they came to the moment when Kari's demonic form had thrust her barbed tail through the boy's chest, he stopped. He would not speak of _that_... not now, and not ever.

Kari felt certain that the only way to get Gabriel to leave was to put some sort of effort behind deciphering whatever kind of lesson he was trying to impose upon her. And then something... something deep inside of her chest tweaked her brain into realizing what had been so unusual about this time. She turned to look at Eloan still standing watch over T.K.'s body. "His body and soul were separated? I never even touched his body..."

Cheyne turned his head to the side, and clarified the girl's epiphany. "His body gave up his spirit, knowing full well that mortal flesh could never hope to take you back from one such as BaalMerodach. But the spirit of a Paragon is an undeniably greater power, capable of tasks that an ordinary mortal could never think to accomplish."

Now Eloan, who evidently _had _been listening this entire time, joined the remainder of their group. "I understand, Father. The 'little ember' of which the demon spoke. Was that why he chose the Lady Hikari to begin with? To feast upon a mortal soul garnished with the essence of one who was a Paragon?"

Cheyne nodded slowly, and placed a paw upon Kari's head. "And so here is your history, child. Some of which you know and some of which you do not. You and Takeru had been meant for one another since the inception of the world, and your souls cried out to one another from where they were first brought into being. And from the beginning we understood that he would be one of the holy Father's chosen upon the earth, a living Paragon... the first of his generation. And so, alongside his mortal soul, the spirit of the Paragon began to grow as well."

"When the Enemy first determined to take you, they struck at you with all that they could spare. And with their success your young soul began to bleed from your mortal body, slowly killing you. But then something happened that they had not expected, and in all honesty was something that we had not foreseen either. Takeru, perhaps unknowingly and perhaps not, passed the greater part of his mortal soul to you through the Ward and thereafter lived on earth almost entirely as a Paragon. Much of it was hard on him, because that part of his spirit had not yet matured to the troubles that it must endure."

"And that, Kari, is what you struck down tonight. The great Paragon spirit of Takeru Takaishi, one that was so determined that you not be given over to the darkness that he forsook both his sacred duty and his mortal body, leaving both behind to be your holy champion one last time."

Kari stared off into the distance as what she'd learned started to sink into her consciousness. It seemed so odd... so absurdly mystical...

"The other... the human part of his soul is still alive? Inside of me?"

Cheyne's eyes fell upon the girl, and his lips twisted just a little bit. "I've noticed that your race is overly fond of sayings like that, Daughter. But this time, perhaps for the first time in your history, it is the literal truth. For several years, since he dragged you from the despair imposed upon you by that one malevolent spirit, a part of him has existed alongside your soul."

Now Kari was on her feet and looking alive once again, as some of the color returned to her cheeks. She turned on the older creature, and her eyes were full of hope and the strength that came with such hope. "Cheyne... Reverend Father... are you saying that I can give it back? I have to give back what he gave to me... I can't believe that all this time..."

"You'd been using his soul to support your own?" the other continued for her. "Freed you from the weight of any emotional pain except save for the moments of most deep and utter despair?"

But Kari wasn't listening and had already fallen at the creature's feet, frantically scrambling around in the dirt for the Crest that she'd thrown at him only moments before. And when her trembling fingers came back up with the little relic the girl grabbed at his paw desperately, holding it close against her face. "Please... please, help me do it, then," she pleaded with him. "If what he left with me will help him to live again..."

Patamon looked at Gatomon, who stared back with eyes that were unreadable. But the little creature knew what she was thinking. Even if it were possible, what Kari was asking had weakened T.K. so much that he had barely been able to stand afterwards. Surely, with all that she'd already been through...

And it seemed that the thoughts of the older creature were of the same. "Dearest child, do you even know what it is that you are asking? Do you have any idea the kind of strength and resolve that it takes to do what he did for you? If you aren't strong enough, you could become so focused on restoring life to him that you forget to sustain it for yourself. It could kill you as well. Takeru would not have wanted that."

Kari looked up from her knees, and steel was in her brown eyes. "I won't live without him, Cheyne... I can't possibly. Even as I'm here and hearing you talk it's eating away at me from the inside. Please... please don't come here with an answer to my misery and then hold it from me at an arm's length. If you are right and we were meant to be together, don't leave me without him. At least let me _try_..."

The Reverend that the humans knew as an angel held a paw gently against the girl's cheek, slowly caressing it as he examined her eyes for the strength of her conviction. "Yes," he said after a moment. "Yes, I will grant that this is the reason that I have come to you tonight. Michael opposed me, proudly accepting Takeru's sacrifice as he has accepted that of every Paragon and satisfied that he has found peace. But some things are simply right, and for the two of you to be together in life is _right_..."

Now the creature took Kari's hand and gently raised her to her feet, and the rest of their little company parted as the two made their way to T.K.'s body. As they passed, Shay looked to Ailora and Ailora to Shay, and both Gatomon and Patamon stared at one another as well. No matter what happened here, each of them quite certainly understood that _this _was what love truly was. T.K. had given up everything for Kari, and died for her as he had lived for her. Now it would be Kari's time to live for them both, if only for a moment.

Everything had slipped into a quietly solemnity as Kari knelt at T.K.'s side. No one spoke, and despite their being in the dead center of a forest there were no sounds of birds in the distance or insects in the night. Even the wind had calmed itself, that it would not intrude by causing the trees surrounding this little scene to be rustled. And now the girl was certain, as certain as she had ever been of anything, that she could hear the beating of T.K.'s heart in her own ears.

Cheyne gestured at the boy's form as Kari looked up at him. "This is in your hands, dearest. Only you can give him back what he has lost. There is nothing for him but you..."

Kari nodded and pulled the tattered shirt away from T.K.'s chest, leaving it bare to her hands. The fingers of one hands were gently caressing his cheek while she placed the Crest of Light over his heart, frowning at the much too cold feel of his skin. And for a moment she doubted herself. She had no idea what she was doing here, and there was just too much for her to risk to...

But then, even in the midst of her doubts and misgivings, the frown slowly disappeared from her lips and was replaced by a small smile as she was pulled into the past and her memories with him. Her eyes slowly slipped into a closed state of reverie, and memories of all the difficult times that they'd come through together came unbidden upon her. But above all the difficulty and the pain was the love.

A great love... a sacrificial love. A love that delighted in putting the needs of another before its own needs, that was what they shared. She needn't have come to this world to look for him; if she'd just have been patient and silent in that morning in her bedroom, she would have realized that he was still right there and speaking to her with a voice that somehow knew everything would be all right in the end.

Now there was a quiet glimmer of light from the Crest as it lay beneath Kari's hand and over T.K.'s heart, and Shay squeezed Ailora's paw to make certain that she could see it as well. Gatomon and Patamon were both focused upon their two human companions, with a single-mindedness in their eyes that would have willed T.K. back to life on their own if it had been possible. Eloan's eyes were closed and his lips moving in silent prayer, and Cheyne's ears twitched forward as he listened for a hint of song that the others simply could not hear.

The silence was long and painful and the light, though it continued to shimmer beneath the girl's hand, did not seem to be growing any more intense. There was sweat upon Kari's forehead, a sweat of great effort, but the girl did not seem to be exerting any energy to cause such a reaction. Instead her eyes remained closed and she swayed slightly in place as her fingers continued to lay upon T.K.'s bare chest.

But then Kari gave a single brief, sharp cry as one in great pain, and collapsed forward to lay across T.K.'s body. The Crest of Light was suddenly dormant, and slipped from her limp fingers to come to rest in the dirt at the boy's side. "Kari!" Gatomon shouted in alarm and made to move forward, only to be stopped by Patamon, who had quite suddenly appeared in her way and was shaking his head.

"Don't," the little mammal warned. "Don't stop her. Leave them together. I know you must be worried, but I can't imagine anything more cruel than to leave her here without him. And with the knowledge that she killed him. This is her one chance to make right everything that's gone wrong. Let her succeed or let her fail, but don't stop her from trying. It would destroy her."

Gatomon seemed to be locked into an internal struggle as she saw Kari lying prone across T.K.'s body, her paws trembling as she held them down at her side. Her teeth were held down hard upon her lips to keep them from trembling but then, after a long moment, she bowed her head and seemed to be at momentary peace. "I know, Pata. I know... this is her salvation, even more than his..."

> > >

_"Kari...?"_

_"Kari...?"_

_Kari quite suddenly felt herself without pain, and surprisingly without the weight of any of the human burden upon her chest. She found herself bathed in a soothing white light, and all around her there was the peace of utter silence but for the voice that had awoken her._

_"T.K.?"_

_She could not see him, but knew that voice as she knew the beating of her own heart. "Oh Kari, why have you come? I have surrendered all that I had to you, that you would know peace. But even from this place I have heard the cry from your heart that tells me that you are not whole. What else can I give that you can be whole again?"_

_The girl licked her lips, and spoke blindly into the light. "T.K., you have given me everything. Everything and more. But that isn't what love is about. It can't be. It can't ever be just about you giving up what you are for me. All this time, you've been the strength for us. Now it has to be my turn. If you really do love me, then trust me to carry on without having to always lean on your shoulders. I will settle for having you to lean on half the time, and for the other half you can lean on me. Take back what you've given to me... knowing that between you and me there is enough strength for us..."_

> > >

T.K. came slowly into consciousness, and though his body ached terribly there was no longer any horrid weight upon his soul. The last thing that he remembered was watching as the great Sword, flung from his own hand, burned brightly towards the head of the monster that Kari had become. But now he was comfortable... the air smelled clean and he was free of the fever that had burned upon his head for so long. And in his hand was...

The boy blinked open his eyes, and brushed the hair out of his face with his other hand. Sitting up, he discovered that he was back in his bed at Kiara's home. Judging by the light and the sweet smell from the woods outside his open window, it was probably sometime in the early morning. And sitting at his side, in a chair and with her hand tight within his own, dozed Kari.

T.K. didn't move for a moment, only taking a moment to breathe, and breathe easily, for the first time in what had to have been years. It was though some enormous weight had been lifted from his bare chest, letting the air flow easily into his lungs once again. Slowly he eased his hand out from Kari's, sliding from beneath the covers of the bed and moving to the window.

The Crest of Light was no longer about his wrist, and the chain upon his neck no longer held the Crest of Hope. Instead the angel's ring had taken its place and was positioned just over his heart, patient as it had even been for him to present it to Kari.

He turned back to the girl. He wanted to wake her, to ask her what had happened, but now seemed to be an inappropriate time. She had been through enough, certainly, and his questions could wait until she recovered some of her strength.

"What happened is that, in the end, you survived where few others ever have," came a voice, deep and rich, at his back.

T.K. looked over his shoulder to find Cheyne the _a'ladon _reverend sitting in another chair, off to the side and in the shadows. Around his neck was the Crest of Light, and in his right paw was the Crest of Hope. The boy turned his head to the side, and looked closely at the creature. "Without any help?"

The reverend smiled. "You were not brought back, if that is what you mean. Not physically, in any event. It is appointed a man to die only once, you know. Your body simply gave out because of exhaustion, having borne the demon's fever for all that time. Now you are here, standing before me, because she gave back to you something that you have passed to her some years ago. The Paragon spirit is gone."

T.K.'s brow furrowed deeply at that, and he paused for a moment as if searching inside of himself for something that he could not find. Then he nodded once. "I do feel... uncluttered, I guess. So does this mean that it is really all over? Not just as a long pause, but finished at last? If I don't have the strength left to fight the demons anymore then..."

Cheyne held up a paw to call for silence. "It _is _over, Takeru. They will not act against the two of you any longer. Not directly, in any event. You may have trials common to your kind, but the days of direct confrontation are over for you. This is what you have longed for, and for resisting the temptation to accept it from Merodach, this is what you have been given."

Now the creature rose from his seat and made his way to T.K.'s side, though his eyes were outside the window instead of on the boy. "I will be leaving you soon. The Enemy has been forced to look elsewhere, but my presence here may draw his eyes in this direction once again. You have won peace, but the other side still bears a grudge against you. Better not to have their attention anywhere in your vicinity."

"So I won't ever see you again?"

The other smiled at the question. "I may drop by, from time to time, to keep up on the two of you. Whether you see me there or not is a different matter."

T.K. seemed in deep concentration for a moment. Then he glanced back up at the angel, clothed as he was in the guise of the reverend. "In that case, I have a final request to make of you," he said, and his hand closed over the ring that dangled just above his heart. "Two, actually."

Cheyne nodded. "First, then?"

"I'm staying here, Cheyne, if it is allowed. This place seems more like home now, and if peace is truly what I've been given I think I could more easily find it here than back on earth. It seems less complicated and a better place to rest."

The creature looked to the sleeping girl, placing a gentle paw upon her head. "And this is what she will want as well?"

T.K. glanced at Kari as well, and after a moment answered. "Yes... yes, she will. I'm sure of it. But only if her family knows that she is well, I suppose." And then he looked back to Cheyne.

"That is no difficult request, Takeru. Stay, if you will, and know that all of those that you love will know that you both are well and together. If you would ever want to return, I believe that you know where to find me. Second?"

The boy's cheeks warmed just slightly. "You know, I think."

If he had not known better, T.K. might have sworn that he heard Cheyne chuckle under his breath. "I do, else I might wonder why Michael had given you that," he answered, nodding to the ring that the boy was guarding so closely. "But are you certain that this is something you want _me _to do?"

"Who else, in this world or in any other, has as much authority to see us wed? I'm sure that Kari will feel the same way," T.K. responded. "Back on earth we wouldn't be old enough, but here..."

"Mature enough, certainly," the other said, dismissing chronological age with an angelic insight. "Very well, of course it will be my great honor to see the two of you together before I must leave. You have discussed this with her?"

The boy looked troubled. "No, not exactly. Not discussed. But I think... I've always known...

"I know. A matter of etiquette only between the two of you. When did you want this to happen?"

T.K.'s blush grew just a little less pink and a little more red. "Well, if you're leaving us now and can't say when you might be back..."

Cheyne's smile returned. "I see." And he waved a paw towards the sleeping girl as if into encouragement to the boy. "I believe that a spoken proposal, formality though it be in this case, is customary among your people."

T.K. felt nervous as he left Cheyne's side and moved to Kari's, but perhaps not quite as nervous as he ought to have. This was the first time in a very long time that he'd been able to make such a major decision without worrying about if what he was doing was right. He knew this time, for certain. They had gone though so much together, and shared a love so great that for her to be his wife was most definitely right.

"Kari?"

"Kari...?"

And as the back of his fingers gently traced their way across her cheek, the girl's eyes sprang open as if in alarm. And then she brought her own hands up and seized those fingers that were upon her face, squeezing them tightly and bringing them to her lips and kissing at them. "Oh, T.K... T.K., you asked what you have left to give to make me whole. But I am whole, T.K. Now ask what I can give back to you to make you whole and well..."

T.K. looked confused, almost concerned, and held the girl's hands tightly as he stared into her eyes. "Kari?"

She looked wild for a moment, as if one waking from a nightmare, before what she was seeing before her own eyes pulled her back into reality. She drew one breath, then a second, and then threw her arms around his shoulders and started to cry feverishly while burying her face in the crook of his neck.

He held her as close as ever for a few moments, stroking her back with a gentle hand until the tears started to slow. And then, after a few moments of rocking back and forth, pulled away and looked at her with concern in his eyes. Her face was red and her eyes now bloodshot, but to his eyes she seemed as lovely as ever. "Kari, it's okay. It's over. Really over this time."

The girl responded with only a long, quivering breath before taking his face in both hands and pulling him close. "I thought... thought I'd forever destroyed what we have together, T.K. It's still like a nightmare, and I can see..."

A polite cough from over the boy's shoulder interrupted her words. T.K. smiled, and his eyes went away from Kari's for a moment to try to catch a glimpse of Cheyne at his back before he spoke. "Kari, don't worry about the past. Don't try to see any more. Think now on the future, and on us. And say that you'll agree to be my wife."

She seemed struck speechless for a moment, confusion in her eyes and her lips parting just a bit. She had so much to say. How sorry she was for following him here. For having him carry her troubles for all this time. For destroying a special part of him that he could never regain. But instead, as she looked, she found that she couldn't speak those words. They weren't necessary, and both of them knew it. All that he'd done he'd done willingly, and he was right: it _was _all over. "Oh, _T.K..." _she exhaled, pulling him close.

He smiled against her cheek, and kissed it gently as he whispered into her ear. "Is that a yes?"

Then what he'd said began to sink into her consciousness. "M... married?" she managed to stammer.

But for once, T.K. seemed to be completely at ease where she was not. "I can't imagine being apart from you any longer, Kari. I'm through fighting, and Cheyne has said that I'm to be granted peace. But I can't be at peace without you with me. I want to stay here, with you, and live the life that we've been denied for too long."

Kari looked over T.K.'s shoulder. "Is it possible, Cheyne? I don't dare believe that..."

"If you wish it, dearest, and I must believe that you do. I have been witness to the joining of more couples over the ages than you can possibly imagine, even at the first, and confess that rarely have I seen two so suitable for one another. The love that let him pass what he did to you is so rare that it happens only once in a generation. Possible? More than possible, child... it is right."

The smile that dawned upon Kari's face at that moment was the most beautiful that T.K. had ever had the pleasure to see. And now once again tears were rolling down her cheeks, but these were tears of the most powerful and overwhelming joy that she had ever known. "Yes, T.K.," she said, pulling the boy close and spinning him around. "I can't imagine anything better. It would make me feel whole again..."

And so the Reverend _a'ladon _took each of them by the hand and turned them to face him. And he smiled with great sincerity. "There are no words that I can express that will compare with what I know to be between the two of you, so this is all that I will say. Takeru, you have honored your vows. You have set Kari's life above your own, and have in all things defended her. When night fell upon her, your soul did sustain hers at great personal cost. Your own life you have guarded for her sake, and through a great show of respect on your part her maiden's virtue has been kept whole. These deeds remain as living examples of your love for her."

"Kari, you have seen Takeru through many great trials in his life, and have seen him through them with a tenderness that belies both your age and your race. Your people would say that such careful nurturing of a loved one is a sign of great affection... we know it as something greater than that. Through the two of you the weak have become strong, and ancient wrongs have become right once again. The Father has blessed the both of you, now receive that blessing..."

And then the _a'ladon _nodded to T.K., and behind his strikingly blue eyes the boy could see the face of Gabriel the Archangel. Then finally, released from years of restraint, he took the ring from about his neck and snapped the chain that held it where it could not have been broken before. He was smiling and at peace as he slid the cool metal onto Kari's finger, and from somewhere in his mind he was certain that he heard a shout of jubilation from all those who had watched over and loved him for so long and for what he had been.

"I suppose that's that, then," murmured a voice from the doorway to the room, and as she draped her arms around T.K.'s neck, Kari turned her head to see Gatomon standing there and watching the two of them with an expression of great approval upon her feline features.

> > >

It was early dawn the following morning when Nefertimon and Kari, T.K. and Pegasusmon stood in relative silence to say farewell. Hastily arranged celebrations had stolen the previous day and most of the night, but even in their exhausted state the two digimon had decided that it was time to leave. Their young human friends had a great deal to learn about living together as husband and wife, and much of that learning would not brook the interaction of even the best of friends.

But despite the fact that they were separating, there was no sadness on either side. Each would miss the others, certainly, but each would also know happiness, realizing that their partner would not be alone. And so it was with a smile, finally, that T.K. was able to bid his best friend goodbye. "No tears this time, Pata," he said, and pulled the golden stallion close to his side.

The other laid his head upon the boy's... or rather, the man's shoulder. "I'm happy for you, T.K. I don't know if I had the chance to say it with everything that happened yesterday, but I think that I'll always be happy, no matter what, knowing that you two are safe and together."

T.K. pulled the other's neck into an embrace. "_You _be safe, Pata. With everything that we've been through, I can hardly believe that you're ready to go out adventuring again. But I suppose that I can't really be worried for you either... I have it on very good authority that you've been blessed and that you have someone watching out for you. But to ease my mortal concerns, watch out for one another. And watch over Eloan and Delia too."

Nefertimon stuck her head in between the pair and smiled. "They can't possibly cause us any more worry than the two of you have," she teased rather good-naturedly. "So we're more than a little used to keeping very small children out of life-threatening danger. I might have even come to miss it."

Kari was toying idly with the silver ring upon the third finger of her left hand, seemingly lost in thought. The sun was starting to rise and was warm upon her shoulders and she was at as a great a peace as she had ever known. But as she looked up, there was a question remaining in her eyes. T.K. saw it, and moved to the side of his young wife. "What is it?" he asked, eyebrows raised and head askew.

"I was only wondering if this is all there is? Just periods of peace broken up by intense times of war? Even if it is over for us, what about the others? In our world and the digital world and here? How can I live here, in peace, knowing that somewhere else innocents may be fighting for their lives and dying for a reason that they can't understand?"

T.K. smiled and held her close as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon walked slowly towards the waiting pair of _a'ladon_ children. Eloan wore a small sword belted upon his waist and a simple set of reeds around his neck, and Delia wore a loose-fitting shawl with no weapons visible upon her person. "You can't fight everyone's battles for them, Kari, no matter how strong you are," the boy answered her. "We've done what we were given to do. Trust that God won't ever allow evil free reign, and that He will always give those innocents someone to rely on. And believe that that someone, if he relies on who sent him, will always triumph in the end."

The brown-haired young woman smiled back at him and took his hand in her own, leading him away from their friend's march to further war and back into a rustic and well earned peace. "I love you, T.K. Takaishi."

"I know. And I know that I'll always love you as much, Kari Takaishi..."

THE END


End file.
